Moody's economist says no to gas tax hike in 2013

Maryland's lower-to-middle-income families can't afford a gas tax hike in 2013, the chief economist for Moody's Analytics Inc. told a State Senate committee Tuesday, the Annapolis Capital reported.

During a presentation to the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, Mark Zandi, the Moody's economist, recommended that the senators wait another year to roll out a gas tax increase or at least "design it so it certainly wouldn't hit in 2013."