State Rep. Jerry Neyer on Tuesday spoke out against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s newly announced $2.75 billion plan to fix Michigan roads, which includes a significant tax increase. The governor’s proposal comes months after House Republicans announced their own $3.145 billion road funding strategy that does not raise taxes.

“Our roads throughout Michigan are falling apart and people are paying the price,” said Neyer, R-Shepherd. “Local road commissioners are doing whatever they can, but the truth is the state has done a terrible job getting funding to where it’s needed most. The House Republican plan would secure substantive funding for local roads without forcing tax increases on the public – it would take the governor giving up on some failing corporate welfare programs. Instead, Gov. Whitmer is trying to go it alone and protect her handouts by forcing the public to foot the bill for her own poor planning.”

Neyer noted a major focus of the House Republican proposal is redirecting funding away from corporate welfare programs and into critical infrastructure projects. The plan also ensures that all taxes paid at the pump are put directly into road funding, a change that would result in $945 million more each year for local roads.

The governor claims her plan would allocate $3 billion to roads; however, $250 million would be going to new busing programs that have nothing to do with road repairs.

When her proposal was rolled out, the governor’s team floated all sorts of “revenue enhancements,” including taxes on businesses, retail delivery services like Lyft and Uber, towing, heavy truck parking, and internet advertising.

“The consequences of the governor’s proposals would be catastrophic for people in my community,” Neyer said. “A tax on trucking will have a devastating impact on our farmers, who frequently rely on semis to haul crops to town. A tax on delivery services will punish college kids at Central Michigan trying to work themselves through school. We must show the governor these tax increases will hurt the very people she’s saying she wants to help.”

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