(WWJ) They haven't even started official debate, but several state lawmakers are giving the odds on Governor Gretchen Whitmer's proposal to pump money into Michigan's crumbling infrastructure.
Whitmer included a 45 cent gas tax hike in her budget proposal earlier this month. If it passes, Michiganders would have the highest gas taxes in country, and it would generate an estimated $2.5 billion in new revenue to pay for road repairs.
Former senators Ken Sikkema, Bob Emerson, John Cherry, and Dan DeGrow weighed in on the governor's proposal to WWJ's Lansing Bureau chief Tim Skubick, saying the prospects of getting her proposed 45 cent per gallon gas tax passed are not good.
"She's probably not going to get 45 cents," one of them said. Others said there was roughly a 50 percent chance. It went up to an 8 out of 10 chance that she could could get "something," but not necessarily the full 45 cents.
They added they believe she has a "fairly decent chance" of raising the $2.5 billion needed for the roads -- through some combination.
Everyone has an opinion on the 45-cent per gallon gas tax Whitmer, including voters and their state representatives who are getting an ear full about it.
WWJ's Vickie Thomas said state Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, D-Detroit, said a number of people have had challenges when it relates to the amount of the hike. But after talking to constituents, she said if they were able to get their earned income tax credit back, that could offset the cost of a gas tax hike. She predicted the tax will pass, but at something closer to 30 cents a gallon.
State Rep. Pamela Hornberger, R-Chesterfield, told Thomas she's not sure what will pass, but roads need to be funded -- and so do schools. "I'm not sure, I don't know, I don't think I can do that (.45 cent hike), but we've got to do something. All the options are on the table. Every penny that goes into a gas tax, we've got to make sure that it goes to roads. But then, on the other end, we've got to make sure education is funded. Forty-five cents is a lot."
In other gas tax news the The Michigan Freedom Fund -- underwritten in part by the DeVos family -- is not back peddling on its charge that Governor Whitmer did not tell the whole truth when she rejected a 20-cent gas tax hike during a debate last fall. The fund, which has been criticized for complaining every time the governor sneezes, says she rejected a 20-cent hike during the debates in the run up for the governor's job. Tony Dodd from the Freedom Fund says her call for 45 cents makes her a liar. "It's pretty hard to look past such a big piece of dishonesty; I think that trumps everything."