Proposal 1: When The Best Lansing Can Do Simply Isn't Good Enough

     Once again, Lansing is hard at work making voters do their work for them.

     So, having completely failed at their jobs at the Capitol, the state legislature and Rick Snyder have decided to make taxpayers make the decision to screw themselves over with the upcoming vote on Proposal 1, which would raise the state sales tax to 7%, raise fuel taxes, raise registration fees, and add a surcharge on electric and hybrid vehicles, all to raise $1.2 billion supposedly for the roads, and an additional $700 million for things that have absolutely nothing to do with roads.

     That's politics for you in this state. They can't even fix the roads without nearly doubling the cost with added non-related pork.

     Among that, the revenue being lost for schools and cities by removing the sales tax from fuel will be added back by double with the increase to 7%. In addition, this would also expand the Earned Income Tax Credit. All worthy enough causes in their own right, depending on whom you ask, but why do they need to be tacked on to this bill? From all the polling done thus far, it seems that, at the very least, more voters would be open to a clean road bill, free of the additional pork, than this current atrocity, which stands at about a 60% disapproval rating.

     In addition to the increased sales tax, fuel tax, and registration fees (the latter of which could result in registration fees no longer being deductible on your federal taxes, a finding from a rather interesting study done on this proposal for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce), the state would tack on an additional $75-100 for electric vehicles, which makes sense; punishing people for making a more environmentally-friendly vehicle choice, just to make sure that no matter whether you're getting hosed at the pump, the state will get more money out of you one way or another.

     And one thing all of this fails to mention: none of this money will be going to fix the roads for at least the next two years. Until then, the money raised from these tax hikes is going to pay down road debt. Not that continuing to kick that can down the road is the most fiscally responsible method either, but if the roads are as deadly as the Yes on 1 ads claim, then why let them continue to rot for at least two more years? Especially since the school fund and other non-road recipients of this new revenue will get theirs right away.

     It's not even as though there's no money to spend on the roads currently. Between the $50 million in film subsidies, the boondoggle that is the new Red Wings' arena (which I've written about prior), and the business tax cuts that Gov. Snyder placed into effect, there's several hundred million right there. And how is there so little money to fund the schools that the sales tax needs to be increased to cover that? Isn't that the point of the state lottery money? And of course, there's no guarantee that the money supposedly going to the schools is even for K-12; Snyder wants to give additional funds to community colleges and trade schools, which might not even be constitutionally legal, according to the study I mentioned above. And what about the current fuel tax? Where is that money going, exactly? This is the kind of lack of accountability that makes voters reluctant to approve a bill that would take more of their money when they don't know how their existing money is being spent.

     Very few are even arguing that this is a particularly good plan, or even a marginally adequate plan at all. The prevailing opinion of the "Yes on 1" camp, as articulated through their latest campaign ad, is this: Look, we all know the legislature isn't gonna do any better than this, because state politics is broken and our lawmakers are petulant children. So, you better vote for this, or they're just going to go argue for another two or three years and throw this same bill back at you again.

     Which should be their issue to fix, not ours.

     Why should Michigan taxpayers and drivers have to suffer because the legislature flat-out refuses to do its job and pass a clean roads bill? Isn't that what you're being paid to do, instead of passing the buck off on the voters so you can blame this on them, absolving yourselves of responsibility because you refuse to make an attempt to do better?

     If anything, voting yes on this abomination sends the wrong message to Lansing: it doesn't matter how incompetent you are, we'll bail you out and give you even more money for the privilege of your incompetency.

     Which should come as no surprise from the same clown show that voted to buy itself a new $51 million office building on our dime because it had a better view of the Capitol.

     Makes one think the idea of a part-time legislature might not be such a bad one after all.