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Michigan leaders call for a gas tax holiday

A filling station attendant pumps gas in Portland, Ore., in 2012. A new law took effect this week allowing motorists in some rural counties in Oregon to pump their own gas.
Rick Bowmer
/
AP
A filling station attendant pumps gas in Portland, Ore., in 2012. A new law took effect this week allowing motorists in some rural counties in Oregon to pump their own gas.

Michigan Democratic and Republican leaders are calling for a gas tax holiday to reduce pump prices.

Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist was shoveling soft patch of asphalt into a pothole near Saginaw Wednesday. Gilchrist has been filling a lot of potholes lately as he promotes the governor’s plan to fix Michigan’s crumbling roads.

Gas taxes pay for much of the work.

Still Gilchrist praises Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s call for suspending the 18 cent a gallon federal gas tax.

But the Democratic Lt. Governor calls a Republican call for a six month state gas tax holiday irresponsible. “You know at this point, we’ll focus on everything we can do that’s responsible to make sure we’re lowering costs for families. And right now this proposal doesn’t meet that test,” he says.

State lawmakers hope to pass a suspension of Michigan’s 27 cents-a-gallon gas tax next week and send it to the governor.