Peter Franchot

The number of contraband cigarettes being into Maryland is way up from previous years. State Comptroller Peter Franchot joins us to discuss the reasons behind the increase--and how he wants to stop it.

If this were the 1960s, I might have been smoking a cigarette while doing this broadcast.  But it’s not the 60s, the risks of smoking are known, taxes are much higher … and the number of cigarettes being smuggled into Maryland to evade those taxes is higher as well.  According to Maryland's comptroller, Peter Franchot, the number of contraband cigarettes seized during the past fiscal year is much higher than i

Our guest this hour is Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot who is among those who have little love for the governor's budget plan, which would increase income taxes paid by anyone making more than $100,000 and shift half the costs of teacher pensions to local governments. There's outright hostility for the governor's separate proposal to apply the sales tax to gasoline to fund transportation projects.