Michiganders are so used to driving down broken busted up-roads it’s easy to think our situation is normal; whether it’s in the suburbs or on the highway, potholes and craters are just things we live with. But it doesn’t have to be.
Proposal 1 is a complicated affair and its supporters have failed to properly inform voters of its benefits. People don’t understand why a referendum approving road funding has to include sales tax; and this confusion has caused concerns that Proposal 1 is an unnecessary tax increase that barely deals with road funding.
All anybody talks about is sales tax increase, but Proposal 1’s primary purpose is to remove the sales tax from fuel purchases and replace it with a gas tax that will solely fund roads. The one percent increase is a secondary measure, used to offset funding the state will lose by removing the sales tax from fuel sales.
Where does that funding go? Schools mostly. By removing the sales tax from fuel purchases, Michigan schools would lose an estimated $730 million. The 1 percent sales tax will negate that loss and actually raise an additional $300 million annually for schools.
Lawmakers agree that Michigan’s outdated flat fuel tax should be replaced with a new percentage based one, which is more efficient and isn’t affected by inflation. However, Republicans refuse to reform and raise the fuel tax without removing the sales tax from gas purchases, and Democrats won’t consider any plan that cuts funding for schools.
To overcome these differences, legislators in Lansing did something that our two parties rarely do today: they compromised. They created an 11 bill package that does everything said above, and aims to raise an additional $1.2 billion a year for road funding. Even Republicans, who treat taxation as theft, supported the proposed sales tax increase. The roads have gotten that bad.
According to The Road Information Program, or TRIP, the state of our roads costs Michiganders an annual $7.7 billion. When compared to all 50 states, Michigan pays the least for road funding. TRIP estimates that 29 percent of Michigan roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
No one should be surprised that our roads cost us billions of dollars a year, contribute to accidents and injury and drive businesses away; People have known for a long time how bad the situation is and everyone wants a solution.
Critics say the state has enough revenue to adequately repair our roads; yet critics fail to mention that the money would come from our already underfunded public services. One way or the other, it’s going to cost a lot to repair these roads and the only responsible way of paying for it is to raise taxes.
Our infrastructure is falling apart, Michigan isn’t alone in that regard. Throughout the country, public spending has been replaced with tax cuts; taxes are too low to maintain many of the basic needs we expect from society and we’re seeing that in our roads.
If this proposal fails legislators won’t want to touch this issue with a ten foot pole, they passed this issue onto voters partially because they didn’t want to deal with it in the first place. With lower repair costs and economic growth Proposal 1 will pay for itself 10 times over; it’s time for Michigan to support its infrastructure.
On May 5 Michiganders will have the opportunity to invest in themselves. This proposal isn’t perfect, it’s a compromise that comes with policies neither side of the aisle would prefer; it’s also the best opportunity we have at repairing our roads. Vote Yes on Proposal 1 and lay the pavement for a better Michigan.
-By Greg Horner