This article won second place in the 2020 Michigan Interscholastic Press Association spring awards ceremony.
Michigan has the worst highways and roads in all of the United States based on “road paint fading, pavement cracking, potholes, and surface flatness” according to Business Insider. One of governor Gretchen Whitmer’s campaign promises was the restoration of Michigan roads. Former Michigan governor Rick Snyder also recognized the need for roads to be fixed during his terms, but citizens haven’t seen any actual changes to our roads or policies regarding the roads.
Until now.
Governor Whitmer just announced that her plan to “fix the damn roads” involves hiking the gas tax up by 45 cents. This will be done slowly by breaking it into three-15 cent increments. All three of these stand to be implemented before October 1, 2020.
In addition to adding money to the budget for improvements of infrastructure, some of the tax dollars are to be set aside for schools and the fight for clean water in Michigan communities.
The main goal for this tax is to get the majority of roads to good or fair condition by 2029. The worst maintained and most traveled roads will see the money first, then the money will eventually trickle down to the roads in less dire need of repair.
As of right now, Michigan is ranked 6th for highest gas tax in the country (44.1 cents/gallon), but this new tax would place Michigan in the top spot with a whopping 89.1 cents, more than 30 cents higher than the current leader, Pennsylvania.
But, not all of the aspects of this proposal involve tax-payers paying more. Governor Whitmer also brought two relief efforts to the table, one for low-income families and one for people with fixed incomes.
As far as low-income families, the governor’s plan involves doubling the Earned Income Tax Credit in Michigan. It stands to give more money back to the families with lower incomes and that meet specific government requirements. While this program is already in place, the percentage back is at only 6%.
For those with fixed incomes, the governor is offering good news: she will be repealing the retirement tax.
Those that fall somewhere in the middle of these two categories only have the financial relief of potentially paying less for car maintenance.
Whitmer gave her presentation to the House and Senate on March 5 and it is now up to them to draft their own copies of her proposal which will be combined or otherwise fixed then sent back to her.
At the very least, Michigan citizens can enjoy their “cheap” gas for now.
