MI, Here Comes Another Tax Hike, Led by a "Republican"!

 

 

Republican Lawmaker Introduces Whopping Gas-tax Hike Gas Tax Sponsors: Dick Ball, (R) Pam Byrnes, (D) Judy Nerat, (D) Joan Bauer, (D) Matt Lori, (R) Lee Gonzales, (D) Marie Donigan, (D) Steven Lindberg, (D) What is the Comprehensive Transportation Fund? The Comprehensive Transportation Fund (CTF) is a portion of the transportation budget that comes from your tax dollars. The CTF is currently around $240 million. Not one cent of that goes to roads. Rather, it pays for such things as "local bus operating", $166 million, "rail passenger service", $6.9 million...see the budget spreadsheet here. You decide if this is the best use of your tax dollars. Dear RG,   Our good lawmakers in Lansing just don't seem to understand what we "regular people" in Michigan are going through. Republican Richard Ball and Democrat Pam Byrnes have introduced a pair of bills, HB 5768 and HB 5769 that will raise gasoline taxes by 8 cents and diesel taxes by 12 cents at the pump over the next three years. This would place Michigan behind only Hawaii, New York and California in total fuel taxes. Do we need to spend money on improving roads? Perhaps, but why isn't anyone in Lansing willing to look at the current tax structure and adjust it accordingly to provide the needed road funding. Why do we continue to spend large sums of money out of the transportation budget for public transportation that almost nobody uses? Why do we continue to pay inflated "prevailing wages" on road projects? Why are we not more demanding of better quality construction so that roads aren't deteriorated before their life expectancy is up? These are the questions we need to be asking of our legislators. And you can ask them by connecting right here. The names and contact information of the sponsors of these bills are in the left margin. Just click on the name to connect to their offices. Please respectfully ask them not to burden you with another sixty bucks a year (or more) in gasoline taxes, not to mention the increased prices for everything that ships by truck. Gas Tax Another Obstacle to Recovery Read an excellent essay from Jack McHugh, editor of michiganvotes.org, about the gas tax hike. Click here.   www.jackformichigan.org This would place Michigan behind only Hawaii, New York and California in total fuel taxes. Do we need to spend money on improving roads?