Photo by geoff.greene.

Feel like leaving your disappointment with the Maryland House’s failure to extend marriage equality to same-sex couples at the bottom of a pint glass? Well, one Maryland Senator thinks you should be paying more to do so — the state’s Senate will consider a bill which would increase the existing tax on alcohol sales over the next few years. Senate Bill 994 would up the current six percent tax by one percent every year until it hits nine percent in fiscal year 2014.

The higher tax — which was proposed by Sen. Verna Jones-Rodwell (D-Baltimore) yesterday — would bring in an estimated raise $90 million, much of which would be funneled into the state’s transportation trust fund. While no one likes paying more for booze, it’s at least a far better idea than just tacking on ten cents to every drink, like some Maryland legislators were suggesting last year. Sales tax on alcohol in the District ranges between 9 and 10 percent, depending on where it is sold and consumed.