TIMONIUM, Md. — Alexis Adams' vehicle takes diesel fuel, so even when Maryland offered up a gasoline tax holiday, she said she didn’t feel like she was paying almost 37 cents less per gallon.
“I don’t think I was getting all of it, honestly,” said Adams, “as you can see I filled up today and I’m at almost $125 just to fill my tank here.”
Ram Ghimire, manager at the Exxon in the 2100 block of York Road in Timonium, said his station typically makes about 20 cents per gallon, but the tax holiday didn’t provide any real bonus business.
"Did you feel like you made more money? That more people were pumping gas?” WMAR-2 News asked.
“People who were pumping gas---the amount was a little bit good,” Ghimire responded, “It was OK, but in the calculations, we did not make more.”
MORE: Comptroller, Gubernatorial Candidate Franchot push for second gas tax holiday, face push back
Even when the state waived its 36-cent gasoline tax, it appears the customers may have gotten shortchanged.
A recent study by Penn Wharton out of the University of Pennsylvania suggests Maryland’s gasoline tax holiday earlier this year also benefitted gasoline suppliers.
On average, the customers paid 26 cents less per gallon and sellers nabbed a dime of it as companies pushed more product into Maryland with its tax suspended before demand waned and prices actually fell.
Are tax holidays all their made out to be?
Maybe not, but the customers WMAR-2 News spoke with are willing to take that chance.
“I’ll take the 26 cents. Like I said, Jeff, anything will help,” said driver Walter Poteat.
“I don’t know if it would make much of a difference, but anything will help at this point,” Adams said.
