What is Proposal 1?

What is Proposal 1?

LANSING - They say April showers bring May flowers, but what about May ballots bringing Michigan better roads?

It's safe to say Michigan roads are bent-up, bruised and plain busted.

It's not hard to find potholes that are more than a few inches deep. But come this May 5th, the future of Michigan roads and finances will lie in the hands of voters and whether they vote yes or no on Proposal 1.

"It really isn't that confusing, it will get our roads fixed. If it doesn't pass, there's no plan B," said Senator, Rick Jones.

According to Jones, Proposal 1 would not only fix roads and bridges, local schools and government departments would benefit as well. In addition, the working poor would get more money back on their income tax. But all of this comes with a high price.

"There's no way to squeeze that out of the budget, so we need more revenue. What is being proposed is the 19 cents road tax will come off of gasoline, the sales tax will come off of gasoline that will be replaced with a whole sales tax," Jones said.

A whole sales tax that will increase what you pay at the pump to fix local roads and bridges. But taking sales tax off gas, cuts funding for schools and city departments and that's where Michigan's sales tax increase comes in.

"I'm not allowed to raise sales tax it must be a vote of the people and were guaranteeing that the constitution will put this money where it needs to go," said Jones.

If Proposal 1 is approved by voters Michigan sales tax would increase for the first time in 21 years from 6 to 7 percent. It's also projected to generate 1.25 billion dollars a year for roads and bridges.

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