Whitmer To Propose 45 Cents Per Gallon Gas Tax Increase

Source: www.gongwer.com

Governor Gretchen Whitmer will propose increasing the gasoline tax by 45 cents per gallon to fund road repairs.

Ms. Whitmer will propose a phase-in of that increase, State Budget Office spokesperson Kurt Weiss said. He declined to detail how many years Ms. Whitmer would propose to bring the tax up by 45 cents from its current 26.3 cents.

Ms. Whitmer is scheduled to announce her 2019-20 fiscal year budget proposal Tuesday to a joint meeting of the House and Senate Appropriations committees.

A 45 cents per gallon increase would raise about $2 billion – the amount by which Ms. Whitmer said she wanted to increase road funding in her first budget proposal. How much more funding Ms. Whitmer will propose for the 2019-20 fiscal year was as yet unclear.

Mr. Weiss declined to say whether Ms. Whitmer would propose removing the 6 percent sales tax from gasoline. Doing so would assure that all taxes paid at the pump go to roads but remove about $1 billion from K-12 schools and local governments.

Ms. Whitmer also will propose a $507 million increase in "operational funding" for K-12 schools through a new weighted school funding model. Some $235 million will go toward increasing the foundation allowance by $180 per pupil for the lowest funding districts and $120 per pupil for the highest-funded districts. Another $120 million will go toward increasing the state reimbursement for special education by 4 percent. Some $102 million will go toward increasing funding for at-risk pupils, an extra $894 per pupil. Finally, $50 million will go toward additional career and technical education opportunities.