Editorial: Fuel tax hike needed to rebuild Michigan roads and our economy

[phantom power]

Counties in Michigan have returned some 100 miles of paved roads back to gravel because they couldn’t afford to maintain them.

That simple fact underscores what a state Transportation Funding Task Force warned us back in 2008, when it said Michigan isn’t just underfunding road repairs; it is now disinvesting in its roads.

Our highways and local roads are among the worst in the nation, and worsening every day. The task force and other groups, including the American Society of Civil Engineers Michigan Section, say the state faces a critical shortage of funding for roads, and must find new money to fix its crumbling streets and bridges. That revenue could come from a bill in the state House that would raise the gasoline tax by 4 cents gallon this year and another 4 cents a gallon in 2013.

In these hard economic times, we know there is little public appetite for higher taxes. But given how dire the condition of our roads is, and how important fixing them is to the economic future of Michigan, we support this proposal, as long as it is coupled with guarantees that the funds will not be misdirected and that best practices will be used in the repair and construction of roads.

http://www.annarbor.com/news/opinion/fuel-tax-hike-needed-to-rebuild-michigan-roads-and-our-economy/

[DJ13]

1. we know there is little public appetite for higher taxes

I bet if these governments would stop increasing taxes that impact the poor the most (like fuel taxes) they would find more support.