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Opinion | A case for road funding without charging taxpayers a dime
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Motorists across Michigan have been dutifully paying into our system for years; I hear about it all the time Up North. I’ll be sitting at a local coffee shop, chatting with my fellow patrons, and the conversation always comes up:
“Ken, I’ve paid my taxes on time for 40 years. How in the world has that never bought me a pothole-free drive to work?”
Our pothole problems aren’t unique to Northern Michigan. From my colleagues in the UP to Downriver, each of our communities is riddled with crumbling infrastructure.
The most frustrating thing is the money is there and it has been for years. House Republicans recognize that, and we’re going to do something about it.
We’ve laid out a comprehensive plan to address road funding shortfalls that have been ignored by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Our proposal would dedicate $3.145 billion to road funding without charging taxpayers another penny.
We’re going to take $2.2 billion from the Corporate Income Tax by eliminating outdated and costly MEGA credits, ending legislative earmarks and halting the governor’s costly corporate welfare programs. The other $945 million will come from permanently dedicating all taxes paid at the pump to road funding.
This can be done – but first we need to get it out of the governor’s head that a roads plan must come with raising taxes. Because news flash; it doesn’t, regardless of what she has to say. In fact, she hasn’t said much of anything recently. Other than a speech filled with smoke and mirrors, she hasn’t held a substantive interview with the media since November. But don’t worry, she still had the time to call for “revenue enhancements” while she’s busy touring the country.
The governor isn’t running for president, she’s running away.
She knows House Republicans aren’t planning on raising taxes – especially considering state economists just reported we have nearly another $1 billion in revenue for our upcoming budget.
It’s been six years since the governor was supposed to take Lansing by storm and “Fix the Damn Roads.” I don’t know about the rest of you, but the potholes near Gaylord are bigger than ever.
House Republicans have a substantive roads plan and we want to work with Senate Democrats, and we want to work with the governor; it’s the only way forward. But our government is lined with so much waste – raising taxes to fix our roads doesn’t even need to be a part of the conversation.
The governor used a recent speech to try to spike the football on her so-called successes fixing the roads; that attempt fell flat. The football probably hit the same loose piece of concrete that’s been popping tires for years. The governor can pretend her failures are successes, but all the rest of us see is miles of traffic cones and broken promises.
House Republicans won’t allow our legacy to be built on crumbling concrete. The people have spoken; the time for a road plan is now.
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