Poll: Do You Support a Bottle Tax Increase?

UPDATE (4:03 p.m.)—Legislation increasing the city's bottle tax by 3 cents cleared its last major hurdle when it was passed out of committee on Monday.

The legislation, which is part of the Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's Better Schools Initiative, is intended to help the city leverage $300 million in bonds for school construction. 

The Taxation, Finance and Economic Development Committee voted 3 to 2 to move the bill to the whole City Council on June 18. 

Stokes, who voted to move the bill forward without has insisted that by not giving the bill a committee vote he is

Henry, who represents the York Road corridor, argued the city should implement a tax on billboards, and direct more of the expected revenues from a city slots casino away from property tax relief to school construction.

But education advocates have staunchly supported the measure as the only realistic method to start addressing the city's issues with school construction, which the ACLU of Maryland has estimated could cost as much as

But some local business owners, such as Jason Zaiderman, who owns Eddie's Liquors, have previously expressed concern the tax could impact their businesses, and puts those closest to the city line at a competitive disadvantage to Baltimore County liquor stores.