A tacit admission by the Detroit Free Press that eth stimulus boondoggle was and is an utter failure:
Editorial: State is stuck on a road to crumbling bridges, potholes. The editorial centers on this recent news that I posted on recently:
Then what was the stimulus for? 1,400 MI bridges need fixing; spans rated 13th worst
Remember this shovel ready lie?:
Back to the freep editorial:
A new federal report ranks Michigan 13th worst in the nation in the number of bridges in poor conditions, with more than 13% of highway bridges ranked structurally deficient.
Michigan isn't alone, of course. Nationwide, "The Fix We're In For" report, recently released by Transportation for America, found one in nine U.S. bridges in poor condition. Even so, another near-bottom ranking in the condition of Michigan's transportation system should become a call to action for state legislators and Gov. Rick Snyder.
Is this not a tacit admission that the stimulus bill billed as an infrastructure modernization effort was in fact a failure? Oh yes - yes it is. The freeps solution? More taxes of course:
In the short-term, the only adequate fix is to raise the state's 19-cents-a-gallon gas tax, which last went up -- by 4 cents a gallon -- in 1997. Any such increase must include overdue parity between gas and diesel taxes. An increase in fuel taxes is not a long-term solution, but it would buy the state time to develop sustainable alternatives, including odometer fees.
As usual, the freep has a fever and the only prescription is more taxes.
Remember that the establishment MSM knew it was a lie and kept it to themselves (this is why the freep editorial is bereft of any reference to the stimulus bill), only revealing the truth more than a year later:
Brooks: Obama Told Me "Shovel-Ready" Jobs Don't Exist Last Year
But back to the freep's suggestion that the Michigan gas tax be bumped up. From a recent post you get teh idea that this is a recurring theme: Detroit Free Press again calls for raising gas tax, neglects to mention MI has 7th highest gas tax and it's being siphoned to other priorities. The ongoing saga of the Michigan gas tax - or the the double tax since gas is taxed twice in Michigan. The establishment MSM has many times come out in favor of a gas tax increase. Ironically, these same entities were in lockstep with the government in favor of higher fuel efficiency standards that as a goal has the decreased use of... gas. Less gas use, less taxes. And then they come out and want to raise taxes to compensate. I recall a story out of North Carolina where a water reservoir was decreasing in its level to where the local government was getting concerned. They asked residents to voluntarily restrict water usage, which they did. But after a while the revenue from taxes on water usage also decreased so they jacked up water taxes significantly to compensate. Government - if you think the problem is bad, just wait for their solutions!
In any case, less gas usage isn't the problem here in Michigan. The siphoning of gas
tax revenues is. I have written about this several times before, such as these two most recent posts:
Back in May, The Detroit Free Press was crying crocodile tears over losing federal
money because
gas tax revenues are coming up short (
Detroit Free Press: You know what? Right now is like a totally awesome time to DOUBLE THE GAS TAX! Neglect the fact that gas tax revenues have been raided for years). What they willfully neglect to tell their readers is this:
MI Lacks Gas Tax Revenue Because Gas Tax Proceeds Have Been Raided For Years. Now Stand To Lose Federal Matching Money. Wouldn't stopping the diversions raise the necessary revenues for roads? You know - like stopping
the diversion from road repair to mass transit subsidies? Or
the diversion of the Michigan Transportation Fund to the Secretary of State? Or to other
projects? Wouldn't that help some? Or rooting out incompetence and corruption? Capitalist cronyism? How about
scrap the prevailing wage boondoggle that keeps the cost of road projects high? Back in January of this year, when Democrats wanted to increase the gas tax, Jack McHugh had this on the subject:
Gas Tax Hike Another Obstacle to Recovery
According to the American Petroleum Institute, Michigan now imposes the nation's 7th highest state tax on gasoline, and the 13th highest tax on diesel. This is because in addition to a 19-cent per gasoline tax and 15-cent per gallon diesel tax, the state levies the 6 percent sales tax on fuel, plus a 0.875-cent per gallon tax that was originally imposed to clean up leaking underground fuel tanks, but was diverted to displace general fund money in the Department of Environmental Quality budget in one of the Legislature's many "fund raids" in recent years.
The sales tax Michigan imposes on fuel does not go to road funding, but to general government spending, mostly for public schools. That's why the state has one of the highest tax rates in the nation, while at the same time politicians, state transportation bureaucrats and road-builder special interests complain that Michigan will lose out on federal road money because we can't come up with the required matching funds.
Under the proposed increase, Michigan would have the fourth highest tax on gasoline, behind only California, New York and Hawaii.
We don't have a funding problem. We have a spending problem. We already are the state with the 7th highest gas tax. What do these editorial boards want, for MI to be #1? How is increasing
the tax burden going to help the state's economy? So here's the simple solution to falling gas tax revenues: STOP SIPHONING THE
MONEY!
UPDATE: Speaking of the freep's tax mantra:
Editorial: Be honest: Pay tax for online purchases. The honest taxpayer's response: pass right to work and stop forcing taxpayers to fund the Democratic Party!
