On July 1, the Maryland sales tax on alcohol increased by 50 percent. The tax hike was initially proposed as a way to fund programs for people with disabilities, but subsequent events perfectly illustrate Maryland's rotten politics.

The tax hike passed the General Assembly ignored people with disabilities and allocated most of the money to new school construction. This allocation was divvied up based on politics, not on need. Baltimore City, Prince George's County and Montgomery County will receive $9 million each. The entire Eastern Shore will receive $1.25 million. In per-pupil terms, the Eastern Shore gets $27.07 for every student while Baltimore City gets $114.48.

Clearly, political factors were at play in this allocation. The legislators from Montgomery and Prince George's counties, and Baltimore City, overwhelmingly supported this tax hike. On the Eastern Shore, only Del. Rudy Cane voted for it.

That politics play a role in how this tax money is spent is further illustrated by the first round of school construction projects approved by the Board of Public Works. Every project was located in a district represented by a legislator who supported the tax hike.

This is hardly a coincidence, as an admission by Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz makes clear. When asked about the peculiar locations of the construction projects within Baltimore County, Kamenetz said, apparently without any shame, "When the General Assembly agreed to create an opportunity for one-time funding using the alcohol tax revenues, the delegation agreed those districts that supported the alcohol tax would then be the beneficiary of that $7 million."

Residents of every district across the state pay this tax. Revenue from it should be allocated according to need, not political considerations. Once again, those of us on the Eastern Shore suffer because of the corrupt political games played in Annapolis.

This particular game will soon end, though, since the new revenue was only earmarked for one year of school construction. Next year, the tax that was sold to us as a way to help people with disabilities will instead become a new revenue source to fund whatever politicians want. The sordid saga of this tax increase illustrates why we need a new political culture in Annapolis.