Students filling up their gas tanks might have to empty their wallets as soon as March 1 if measures in the Michigan House to increase gas taxes pass.
Two state representatives have introduced bills that would increase the state tax on gasoline and diesel fuel to make up funds for decreasing transportation revenues.
Rep. Dick Ball, R-Bennington Township, said the increased tax would help recover the more than $3 billion in transportation funds lost in the past three years.
The tax will be initiated in two increments. The first, which would go into effect March 1, would change the state tax from 19 cents to 23 cents for gasoline and 15 cents to 21 cents for diesel fuel. The second, scheduled for Jan. 1, 2013, would increase the tax from 23 cents to 27 cents for gasoline and 21 cents to 27 cents for diesel.
The initial increase would raise $240 million, and the second increase would raise $480 million a year, Ball said.
Ball was one of the two representatives to introduce the change.
He and Rep. Pam Byrnes, D-Lyndon Township, want to create a separate fund for the increased revenues raised by the gas tax, which would allow funds to go directly to repairing roads, bridges and public transit.
“Nothing goes into the bureaucracy; it all goes into fixing the roads,” Ball said. “The whole transportation infrastructure of the highways are deteriorating to the point where they have to be totally reconstructed, instead of just coating a layer of asphalt over them.”
Each year, state transportation funds are matched by federal funds.
Ball said if the state doesn’t have enough money to match the minimal requirement for federal funds, the state could lose millions of dollars each year.
“If we don’t make more (money) by the end of this year, we won’t be able to make our match by 2011,” Ball said.
Ryan Sebolt, a legislative assistant in Byrnes office, said with the increased revenue, the state could match about $1.5 billion in federal funds throughout the next 3 years.
Byrnes was not available for comment Wednesday.
Fixing the state’s infrastructure is a major part of Michigan’s future, Sebolt said.
“It’s a matter of functionality,” he said. “The core functions of our economy is being able to safely and efficiently transport people and goods.”
History senior Dominique Devereaux said although she’s been driving less because of the high gas prices, people will drive regardless of what gas might cost.
“I feel like people will always drive,” she said. “Either they’re driving to work, to class, wherever. They’ll be upset, but it won’t stop them.”
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