Political News and Commentary with the Right Perspective. NAVIGATION
  • Front Page
  • News
  • Multimedia
  • Tags
  • RSS Feed


  • Advertise on RightMichigan.com


    NEWS TIPS!

    Get the RightMighigan.com toolbar!


    RightMichigan.com

    Buzz

    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Rick Snyder wants a gas tax and registration increase


    By Republican Michigander, Section News
    Posted on Thu Oct 27, 2011 at 01:19:31 PM EST
    Tags: Big government, Budget, gas tax, registration fees, Rick Snyder, Taxes (all tags)

    Just when I was about to ease up on Snyder after he signed the partial birth abortion ban, he goes leftist again. Apparently the new money from the income taxes and pension taxes are not enough for technocrat Rick Michigan.

    From the Detroit news


    Lansing-- Michigan would fundamentally alter the way it raises money to pay for repairs to the state's roads and bridges under a sweeping proposal expected to be unveiled today by Gov. Rick Snyder.

    He's expected to suggest getting rid of the 19-cent gas tax motorists pay at the pump in favor of a tax on the wholesale price of fuel -- a move expected to bring in more funds to fix roads and bridges as inflation pushes up the price of gasoline and diesel fuel.

    First off, we don't have a 19 cent gas tax. If you want to see me get red in the face, keep repeating that lie, damn lie, and statistic. I've covered it before, but here's how it works. Right now, the Michigan Gas Tax in Hamburg Township, Michigan is 37 cents. The final price when I was last at the gas station is $3.45. Of that $3.45 cents, 56 cents in gas taxes goes to the government. 37 cents goes to the State of Michigan. Multiply that by 20 gallons, and the state gets $7.40 cents every time I fill up. When gas prices are at $4.10, the Michigan gas tax is 41 cents.

    There's three things wrong with the wholesale taxes.

    1. Taxes go up even more when gas prices increase. That encourages higher gas prices to be even higher. We're almost $3.50 a gallon. That's damaging to any supposed recovery.

    2. This does not address the 6% sales tax on gasoline - that does not go to roads. This will affect things more with a wholesale tax.

    3. It continues the false assumption that the gas tax, and only the gas tax, goes to fix the roads.

    4. While the non-sales tax portion of the gas tax goes to transportation, that does not necessarily equal roads.

    I've covered this issue more times than Matt Millen has lost games as a GM. This is the worst tax in the country, outside of possibly the self-employment tax.

    There's more.


    Also as part of his plan, the governor will ask the Legislature to allow counties and regional authorities to levy a vehicle registration fee to raise money for local road projects, sources close to the governor confirmed. The local levy would have to be approved by voters.

    More millages. Regional authorities for those that don't know are when a group of municipal governments create a new quasi-governmental body around a governmental function. These can range from parking, fire, library, parks, and other things associated with municipalities.


    The two proposals are expected to be part of Snyder's Special Message to the Legislature on Infrastructure at 3 p.m. at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield. The plan will lay out Snyder's vision for improving roads and bridges, regional transit, water and sewer lines and Internet access.

    Regional transit. New taxes to pay for this..INSTEAD of the roads?

    It gets worse. Today's Detroit News has this. This clown thinks I'm made of money


    Southfield-- Michigan needs another $1.4 billion for roads annually and Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday suggested hiking vehicle registration fees to help come up with the money.

    In an address on infrastructure at Lawrence Technological University, the Republican governor said an extra $120 a year -- $10 a month -- on each registration would raise $1 billion a year. More money could be raised if voters approve allowing counties and regions to assess their own vehicle registration levies of up to $40 annually.

    $10 a month. You make it sound like it's not a lot of money, and that pisses me off even more than the push for this. You big government folks are nickle and diming us. Between the pension taxes, this, and Obamacare and debt on the feds, we're getting our asses kicked. I can't afford a $240 annual tags bill - IN ADDITION to all this, and I drive a 10 year old vehicle. Hey, Rick. I don't have the millions you do. That's a lot of money to me.


    Among his ideas:

    Rapid transit that would connect Detroit with its suburbs, Ann Arbor and Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

    I thought the ROADS were a problem. You want to RAISE TAXES for that?


    A new fiber optic cable across the Mackinac Bridge to increase Internet access in the Upper Peninsula.

    I thought the ROADS were a problem. You want to RAISE TAXES for that?


    Competitively bidding out maintenance services, engineering or construction of roads.

    I can agree with that.


    Accessing federal money for dredging ports around the state.

    More federal spending of our tax money we don't have.


    Helping communities maintain or improve water quality.

    That isn't done already?


    Giving counties the option to take over their road commissions, or consolidating local commissions. Snyder noted Michigan has 617 independent road agencies and 79 independent transit agencies.

    I agree with this.

    Here's another danger, and Jase Bolger and Randy Richardville need to get the pressure on them for this in a BIG way. Snyder knows the taxes are unpopular. Just as the pension tax was unpopular. He also knows there are favorite projects of many reps who will pick that poison over the others. All the reps hated the MBT. Many who otherwise would not vote for the pension tax increase, voted for it because it was the price to get rid of the MBT. Few, like Joe Hune said the price wasn't worth it and thought the MBT should be gone period without a replacement. I agreed with Joe.

    Snyder is going to want this to be an all or nothing package. However, Snyder can't do that on his own. Jace Bolger and Randy Richardville deserve just as much blame and scorn as Snyder for that pension tax monstrosity. We can not let them do the same thing again. Snyder is governor. He's not prime minister. Hell, I don't think he's even a republican. Why the Hell are you following this guy? His title? We need to make sure that transportation provisions are sent PIECEMEAL to the governor and not as an all or nothing type of scam as the pension tax was.

    Worst of all, government hasn't earned the money. Government has shown it can not spend what it has properly. It wants us to bail them out. Again. It's like Granholm never left office.

    No new gas taxes. Get rid of the sales tax on gasoline. No new registration fees. No transportation spending on anything but roads.

    Don't blame me. I voted for Mike Cox. I also voted 3rd party in the general for the first time ever at the top of the ticket instead of Snyder. With supposed 'republicans' like Snyder, I don't need democrats.

    < Frank Kelley Support For Constitution Laughable | Leverage >


    Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit


    Display: Sort:
    RM THANK YOU (none / 0) (#1)
    by JGillman on Thu Oct 27, 2011 at 02:07:58 PM EST
    I was going to hit on this, and have been poring over the text version of his presentation.

    You beat me to the punch and did a fine job.  This is messed up.  (Thus inspiring yesterday's cartoon)

    One thick headed nerd (none / 0) (#2)
    by Rougman on Thu Oct 27, 2011 at 04:03:55 PM EST
    I am incensed at the idea that registrations could cost an extra $10 per month.  I have not ever registered a car by the month.  I've always done it by the year.  Sure, if I sold a car mid year its registration would be prorated by the month, but the remainder of the registration fee would simply be replanted onto the car I needed to register in its stead.  

    How many families have multiple cars?  Those who have kids of driving age might have three or four cars in the drive way.  How many parents can afford an additional $360 or more per year in registration fees? I know I can't.  It would be more forthcoming of Big Slick Snyder to announce a $120 per car increase than try to disguise it as $10 per month.

    Secondly, I'd like to know why it is that the taxpayer must be screwed on road construction.  Davis-Bacon makes road construction costs artificially high with additional costs being funneled to union laborers and to companies that base their profit margins on percentages of overall revenues.  

    Is the $1.6 billion in annual road construction necessary based on the $50 per hour salary and benefits that are required for some workers along the highway, or are they based on what the states and localities could get their roads built given a reasonable wage rate?  

    We pay vastly inflated rates for road work and we are getting screwed for it.  Who is it, supposedly, that is supposed to represent the taxpayers in such situations?

    I guess it isn't Rick Snyder.

    Very not bad! (none / 0) (#3)
    by KG One on Thu Oct 27, 2011 at 04:07:12 PM EST
    Jeez, I'm outta town for a few days and you-know-what hits the fan.

    I'm still catching up on everything I've missed, but after reading the text of the guv's speech, I can't help but ask has he completely forgotten that Michigan is still in the middle of a Granholm-induced depression?

    I also can't help by but wonder just who he's channeling when he proudly proclaims his support for "investment": FDR or LBJ?

    Sorry guv, but with D-DOT unable to run on anything that resembles their own schedule and SMART cutting back on service for their lack of living with their means, you had better don those green eye-shades of yours and head back to the adding machine, your need for additional "investment" needs a little more work.

    RM, you had pretty much touched on all of the points I would've if I had written this piece, except for this, something that every republican in Lansing needs to have reinforced into their collective noggins:

    "I BELIEVE government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn."

    It's good to see others questioning the chops of someone who was a political unknown before he found it easy to get his name on the ballot if he called himself a Republican.

    Oh yeah, one last thing.

    The guv is going to drop by in Macomb County at the Republican Committee for Northern Macomb County Fundraiser Dinner conveniently held in the middle of Macomb County at Penna's Restaurant on November 3rd from 6;30 to 8:30.

    I really don't know what got into their heads to even think about inviting him here?

    They've demonstrated good common sense choices in the past. I'm at a loss to explain what went wrong.

    I read and reread the article. (none / 0) (#4)
    by RushLake on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 05:06:11 AM EST
    Couldn't find one thing in the proposal suggesting that campaign contributions or any other honoraria or remuneration from the road building industry to politicians of either party would be punishable by death to the giver or taker. Not one word about putting a performance bond on the road builders to force them to fix the roadway if it crumbles according to the current schedule--about two years.

    People are undoubtedly already lining up to ride rapid transit to Detroit.

    Typical knee-jerk Democrat... (none / 0) (#5)
    by Corinthian Scales on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 11:47:14 AM EST
    ...sitting with 10% unemployment, wanting to take care of his union labor constituents by raising taxes for road repair.  No, I'm not talking about Barrack Odowngrade, I'm talking about the GoveNerd.  We just went through this moonbat mathematics exercise of raising the gas tax crap in DC.

    OK, where the hell are Stabenow and Levin with getting our Federal gas tax share back to this state?  

    No offense RM, but I dispute the claimed Michigan 41¢ per gallon figure, and do apologize the following makes anyone get red in the face with the following.  According to the API May 2011 figures, the combined local, state and federal taxes in Michigan is 62.1¢ a gallon.  And the GoverNerd wants more!

    I won't even get started on the GoverNerds' whole Agenda 21 internet scam to get everyone's healthcare info online...

    Display: Sort:

    Login

    Make a new account

    Username:
    Password:
    Tweet along with RightMichigan by
    following us on Twitter HERE!
    create account | faq | search