What's true, what's a stretch when it comes to the road fix

DETROIT – We're seven weeks out until you're being asked to go to the polls to say yea or nay to a road funding proposal that will give Michigan the second highest sales tax in the country. The governor hit the PR trail for Proposal 1 Thursday in Dearborn.

"We need to do something, folks. It's long overdue," Gov. Rick Snyder said.

[RELATED: Snyder, other leaders rally support for road funding proposal]

He's been pushing the Legislature on a road fix for more than two years now. There has been no political will to impose a tax increase. Instead they punted and sent it to the voters on May 5. The pro and con ads are now in heavy rotation on your TV.

In one pro ad the copy reads, "If it means paying a penny more, sign me up."

That's only partially true. Yes, a yea vote raises the sales tax by only a penny, but it also increases fuel taxes and decreases deductions like registration fees.

The biggest misconception out there is that if this doesn't pass, there is no Plan B. Not true. There are many legislators looking at alternate funding mechanisms right now. What you won't see is a lot of work on the issue until late this year or early next year.

"Even when fully implemented, 40 percent won't go to fix a single pothole," said Scott Hagerstrom, with the Coalition Against Tax Increases and Special Interests.

That's a stretch the anti-Prop 1 side keeps bringing up in its ads. No, all the money does not go to roads, but according to a nonpartisan group in Lansing, 67 percent of the money will go to roads. You have to massage the math to get to their 40 percent claim.

The bottom line is that our roads are a mess. It's up to Michiganders to determine whether this is the best compromise we can come up with.

31889756

31890276


About the Author: