Auchtoon!Fear Not Good Yet Simple Voters!
Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
December 28, 2014
After four plus years of “fixing our roads” as a lawmaking priority, the Michigan legislature and the governor still managed to punt on the funding bit — there will be a ballot vote come May to decide whether to raise the sales tax. Don’t we elect them (and pay them) to make tough, informed decisions? Weak, weak sauce…
Jim said,
December 30, 2014 @ 10:32 am
Believe it or not John, I’m glad it’s going to a vote. It gives us a chance to “speak” quickly on this topic without having to wait for the next political election to throw them out of office. I’m much more concerned about the long term economic impact a higher sales tax will have (these always becomes permanent) than I am about better roads.
You didn’t mention it, but let’s not forget that also on the ballot is their intention to raise our gasoline taxes which are currently capped – and that’s their real agenda; make the drivers pay for the better roads through higher gas taxes. I’m can tolerate that, since at least some of the increased revenue will come from the many out of state cars and trucks that drive across the state pounding on our highways, rather than from Michigan residents each and every time we purchase, well, anything (but groceries).
Why should we have to pay more in sales taxes to improve roads? The sales tax hike is being tossed in to increase the state’s revenue stream. But why since there’s virtually no inflation. Meanwhile our personal health care costs continue to rise each and every year and our annual raises are meager at best.
I love how they threw the education money in there too, for good measure. It reminds me of the Steve Martin Christmas “What I would do if I had three wishes” routine. In the beginning he says “I’d give every child…” but by the end he’s saying “on yeah, and that crap about the kids”…
John said,
December 30, 2014 @ 4:21 pm
That’s just it — they didn’t give us a chance to speak, they avoided making the tough decisions. After four years of promising to fix this, they most definitely could have figured out a way. The most obvious is refiguring fuel taxes and licensing fees, like you said.
And not only do I worry about the long term impact of an increased sales tax, I worry about the long term impact on businesses (and my own aging fleet of vehicles) if we turn down the increase and the deterioration continues….