++ A GAS TAX HIKE IS NOT NEEDED! The top priority for Gov. Snyder announced after polls closed but even before the vote was counted, is a transportation tax increase. It is not needed, and certainly is very premature. It also may violate Michigan Tax Limitation Amendment, put into the Michigan Constitution in 1978. First cut the fat, trim government, quit expensive special favor subsidies, repeal prevailing wage laws, to fund the needed road improvements. Gov. Snyder stated his dream for Michigan in his victory speech Tuesday night. The state as a family (Collective? Re-distribution?); A legacy for generations; Building the foundation now. It all sounds good, perhaps utopian, if his solution was not more government growth and taxation to solve his perceived problems. Gov. Snyder just got re-elected with many of our votes, but his highest stated priority for the lame duck session is really repulsive to many conservative and other Republican grass roots supporters. Even before the night passed, a transportation tax hike was the first on his agenda. Detroit — Newly re-elected Gov. Rick Snyder wasted no time in getting to work after winning re-election Tuesday, saying he wants to get a long-delayed $1 billion road improvement bill completed before his first term ends. - Detroit News. The general budget bill dedicated $271 million in general fund money to Michigan roads next year mlive/lansing-news/index.ssf/2014/06/michigan_house_approves_375b_b.html This is on top of a special $40 Million appropriation for Roads in February. Spending on road and bridge maintenance increases by $350 Million in the 2015 budget lansingstatejournal/viewart/20130613/NEWS04/306130043/Michigan-budget-highlights-Roads-school-standards Snyder wants to raise road taxes another $1.2 Billion a year. That is the amount the union road builders have been dreaming of for years. A nearly 50% raise from $2.5 Billion a year to $ 3.9 Billion. Michigan spends 53% more per mile than the national average, but is about 43rd in quality. Indiana spends about the same amount per mile and is first in the nation in rural roads. • Michigan has the 6th highest gas tax in the nation at a current total of 59.7 cents a gallon! • It isn’t that we are not spending enough. Indiana spends about the same amount per mile and has the best rural roads in America, while we are rated 43rd. We are not getting value for the money we spend. • Much of the money we pay at the pump has been siphoned (pilfered) away to other uses. • Michigan Roads “prevailing Wage” is about $10/hr. higher that private sector “Prevailing Wage” Work. • Prevailing Wage Repeal will save taxpayers about $400 Million a year • Michigans total expenditures on roads increased by approximately $2.922 billion, from $45.826 billion in 2009 to $48.748 billion in 2013. ballotpedia.org/Michigan_state_budget • State budgeted spending is about $ 2.5 BILLION on roads each year. • Now the Road Builders lobby says if we increase it to $ 3.9 BILLION they can do a good job. • The state increased road spending the last two years year, by Millions. Does this count? • Lansing can help fix roads by returning the money to its intended use • Lansing can help fix roads by more competitive bidding (eliminate Prevailing Wage) • Lansing can help keep roads fixed by getting warranties for the work 60.5% of voters oppose any road tax increase. “The statewide survey of 600 likely voters May 20-22 found 45.5 percent say the state already has enough money to spend on roads, and that the current pot of fuel taxes and vehicle fees needs to be better spent. Another 15 percent reject a small tax increase and say that while extra money for roads and bridges may be needed, it should be found elsewhere in the state budget.” From The Detroit News: detroitnews/article/20140528/METRO/305280144#ixzz34O0kxSXW Michigan motorists now pay a 19-cent state tax on each gallon of gasoline they purchase and 15 cents on each gallon of diesel. Snyders plan would raise each to the equivalent of 33 cents-per-gallon through a wholesale tax, which would go up with price increases. The governors plan, if approved by the legislature, also would hike annual registration fees by approximately 60 percent for passenger vehicles and 25 percent for large trucks. He also proposes allowing local governments to raise up to $280 million a year more in local transportation tax. mlive/politics/index.ssf/2013/02/snyder_backs_hike_in_gas_tax_r.html • The budget has increased $7 billion (16%) in four years under Republican leadership. More than a billion dollars a week. Cant more of that be used? • We pay $400 million a year in higher taxes because of prevailing wage. Cant that be repealed? In the private sector we get warranties for road construction. • The transportation budget has increased a quarter a billion dollars each of the last couple years. Where has that gone? • Is there no fat to cut? Why not a Grace Commission type group to do a zero based review of expenditures, like we would in our family? • Government growth has been brisk under Republican leadership. That is NOT the Republican platform. It is like the king demands to have his cake and eat it, too. CUT THE FAT and get government out of picking winners and losers with tax dollars before even considering another tax hike!
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 19:00:43 +0000
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