Show Me The Money

What would happen if you took a wad of $100 bills and stuffed them into a Michigan pothole?

My guess is that the first car passing over would send the bills flying and the pothole would be right back where it was before you shoved the bills in. Kind of like what happens to the "cold patch" we see being shoveled into a pothole a few days later.  Sure it helps for those few days, but many times not much longer.  Solution: Permanent Repairs.

In Michigan, some of the gas taxes we pay are supposed to go to fix the roads (potholes and all) and as we pay among the highest gas taxes and fees in the nation, it goes to figure that we should have some pretty good roads. Right ?  Not so simple.  As of April 2014 according to the Michigan Petroleum Association the sales tax we pay for each gallon of gas makes up 5.36 % of the total.  And according to Lance T. Binoniemi of the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association."It's the biggest public policy problem we have, The general public does not understand that the 6 percent tax does not go to funding roads and bridges."  The state road funding in Michigan comes from the roughly 19-cents-per-gallon state motor fuel tax.

So, while we pay among the highest gas taxes and fees in the nation, we don't necessarily have the most $100 bills to shove into all our potholes.  Or to really fix our roads.

According to Crain's Detroit Business, a proposal being put forward by Michigan lawmakers would raise fuel taxes for road funding this way:

The tax would start at 9.5 percent, effectively increasing the state's 19-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax by 10 cents and doubling the 15-cent diesel tax assuming the statewide average wholesale price of gas is $3. The gas tax would rise to 11.5 percent (around 34 cents) in 2016 if prices stay intact, 13.5 percent (40 cents) in 2017 and 15.5 percent (46 cents) in 2018.

Is that going to Fix the Roads?  Well it is just one idea being put forward now.  More ideas to come, more arguments, more votes, more delays...  In the meantime, you and I will still pay the "Pothole" tax that is so hard to avoid - Constant repairs to our cars and trucks because our roads are not being fixed.  I for one am not going to stand by, I am going to let lawmakers know the potholes go or they go.  Let me know what you think.  Thanks!


Drive Careful,

Will

 











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