Governor Whitmer is asking the Legislature to act quickly and decisively to raise the state’s gas tax by 45 cents a gallon.
She’s touring the state to get voters to support the plan.
The Democratic governor told a business group in Ann Arbor no one wants to call for tax hikes. But she says businesses and commuters are already paying more due to damage caused by poor roads. She says the solution is complicated by the fact that the state’s made road repairs appear less expensive by siphoning money from other parts of the budget.
“So you can see that we’ve got kind of a shell game happening and it’s compromised our ability to do any of these things particularly well.”
The Legislature’s Republican leaders agree more money is needed to fix roads. But they say the governor’s plan puts too much of the burden on working families who pay fuel taxes.