Road tax proposal
Last December our lawmakers passed ten laws that will be activated if voters pass the May 5 “road tax proposal” amending the Michigan Constitution. The ten laws range from added gas taxes and increases of 60 percent in vehicle registration fees to new rules requiring affirmative action on the bidding of road projects and motor carrier record-keeping requirements.
I will be voting NO. How the Election Bureau plans to condense the 46,000 words in the new laws to 100 words or less for ballot language is hard for me to understand. Ten laws cannot be explained in 100 words.
Will voters be informed that we will pay 23 cents “more per gallon” in gas tax for a total of more than 60 cents per gallon, highest gasoline excise tax in the nation? Will voters be told that the 1-cent per dollar increase in sales tax is actually a 16 percent increase and will be forever in our Constitution?
Will taxpayers be told that only about 50 percent of the money will be dedicated to roads and that to gain votes for the package, all kinds of goodies were thrown into the bills such as 130 million for mass transit?
We can all agree that roads in Michigan are horrible. Something needs to be done. Cut spending!! That’s what families do.
Now might be the time to forget about spending $70 million on a new Senate office building. Most motorists assume the 6 percent sales tax we now pay at the pump goes for roads. It does not; it goes for education and revenue sharing. By law it cannot be used for roads and bridges. Tax at the gas pumps should go to roads and bridges; nothing else. That’s my opinion.
Connie Lapham
Perrinton, MI