LANSING — House Democrats introduced four bills today outlining alternative solutions to raise the funding needed to fix Michigan’s crumbling roads. Based on the feedback of thousands of residents at coffee hours and town halls across the state, as well as the input of an online survey conducted earlier this year, House Bills 4779-82 were introduced to provide real, long-term road funding solutions without costing everyday Michiganders more.

“Instead of attempting to fix the roads at the expense of our children’s education, House Democrats are standing up for their future today with the introduction of these bills. People from all over the state have made themselves clear,” said House Democratic Leader Christine Greig (D-Farmington Hills). “They want everyone to pay their fair share for the infrastructure we all use. They want accountability for those that cause the most damage to our roads. They want businesses that benefit from good roads to contribute directly to repairs. They want immediate, practical solutions that don’t just get the repair process started but finally, truly fix our roads to last. Finally, they want to see the practice of stealing from schools to patch up the problem put to an end. Those kinds of ideas haven’t been part of the roads conversation yet, but if we’re going to make meaningful and lasting change, the voices of everyday Michiganders have to be included.”

The four bills would:

  • Increase the corporate income tax by 2.5 percent, implement a flow-through parity tax of 4.25 percent and repeal the harmful retirement tax (House Bill 4781-RABHI)
  • Create a Vehicle Miles Traveled Tax (VMT) on trucks of the two heaviest classes, 26,000 pounds or more, at 6 cents per mile (House Bill 4779-GREIG)
  • Create a Rhode-Island style bridge toll program for trucks (House Bill 4780-HOADLEY)
  • Create the “Fixing Michigan Roads” fund, where the revenue generated from the corporate tax and VMT bills would be directed (House Bill 4782-SNELLER)

“Too often the conversations that are happening at the top are very far removed from the real, everyday experiences of the people in our state,” said Leader Greig. “So we went to the source and we asked people in our communities directly, what do you want to see done about our roads? And we came up with a way to make that happen. Good policy always starts at the ground level, and that’s where these policies came from.”