LANSING (WKZO) — It looks like efforts to pass a road funding plan this week have fizzled after the Governor and Democrats insisted there be safeguards put in place to protect medical insurance costs and other programs from being raided to fund road construction.
Rep. Jon Hoadley says the state has obligations and new funding requirements that they and the Governor don’t want to sacrifice, like Medicaid expansion and the cut in property taxes.
Speaker Kevin Cotter says they want the bill to be about roads and roads only. He says maybe in September.
Democrats are blaming Republicans, for the first time Republicans are blaming the Governor in part.
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce has launched a statewide ad campaign aimed at discouraging voters from signing petitions that would put an increase in the state Corporate Income Tax from six percent to 11 percent on the November 2016 ballot.
Polling shows the idea has a lot of support in the general population as a road funding solution.
The Chamber claims the hike would drive businesses out of Michigan and raise unemployment rates.
The organized labor-backed group Citizens for Fair Taxes counters that the Chamber is only trying to intimidate and silence signature gatherers.
