In a state as dependent on automobiles as Michigan, the price of gas will always be an issue of large public concern.
Two Michigan representatives are attempting to change the way the state taxes citizens at the pumps. They want to tax people less for gas they purchase, alleviating some of the burden that comes with filling up.
These proposed bills are a bad idea. Michigan's economic status shows the state is in no position to be making cuts to taxes. The state needs all the funding it can get.
It would appear the proposed cuts in gas taxes are a publicity stunt to make people support the Republican legislators behind them.
Paying exorbitant amounts for gas on a regular basis is something that is frustrating to the entire driving public, and a bill suggesting lower gas costs should warrant instant support.
It is easy for politicians to rely on the wallets of the voting public to help rally support, and these proposed bills are a prime example of that.
But people need to be aware of what effect these cuts will have on the state as a whole.
Funding for education, creating new jobs and the arts are already slipping down to dangerously low levels. While a bill proposed by Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, R-Kalamazoo, would protect the finances of the state School Aid Fund, the money would be taken from the state's General Fund, making the general state budget spread thin across all other projects.
The money taken from the General Fund and placed in the School Aid Fund would not be replaced, leaving a gap in Michigan's economy with nothing there to fill it.
This tax cut would only hurt the struggling projects in this state further - while at the same time only saving consumers a trivial amount on gas. The amount saved by the bill proposed by Rep. Neal Nitz, R-Baroda, would amount to pennies for consumers. His bill, similar to one proposed last month by Rep. Tim Melton, D-Pontiac, calls for state sales tax to be implemented before federal tax to consumers purchasing gas.
Furthermore, the high tax on gas should not be contested. The U.S. has a love for oil it needs to overcome.
The same way vice taxes place a fee on items like cigarettes and alcohol, people who choose to drive excess amounts should have to pay more money to the state.
The price of gas in the U.S. is still much lower than those of many other industrialized countries, yet legislation like this is trying to slash the price further.
Politicians are continuously shortsighted, and this is another example of that.
They want to rally support of the people and do something that would appear immediately satisfying, but must think about the future and the well-being of the state before passing legislation.
