LANSING, Mich. – Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has asked federal leaders to lift the federal gas tax to lower gas prices for drivers.
“Who would have thought yesterday morning that I would be waiting in line to get $3.89 gas. Today it’s $4.25, $4.39,” Rep. Joe Bellino said.
Read: Michigan Gov. Whitmer supports suspending federal gas tax to help drivers as gas prices soar
Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and Speaker of the House Jason Wentworth announced a new proposed plan to remove Michigan’s 27-cent per gallon gas tax for the next six months.
“It’s about $750 million. We have the money now and it would be the state portion of gas tax, not the sales tax,” Bellino said.
But where does that 27 cent gas tax usually go? Bellino said it goes to a number of places.
“It goes to roads. It goes to infrastructure stuff. The sales tax is broken down even more with pockets to go in, like, school and healthcare. So, mainly it goes to roads,” Bellino said.
Right now the state has money to backfill the costs completely.
“We’ve got plenty of money right now so nobody should worry about roads that are gonna crumble because we paused this for six months. We’ve got plenty of money in the bank. We can backfill it and ease people’s pocketbooks,” Bellino said.
If there is a pause in federal and state gas taxes, it would save people in Michigan 45 cents per gallon.
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The spokesperson for Whitmer released the following statement: