EDITOR:

I was happy to see that Mike Martin also caught the Governor’s sleight of hand on her demand for a 45 cent increase in the gas tax. Call it scam, bait and switch or whatever, but who remembers the big lottery switch? Remember all lottery proceeds were to go to education, a huge boost for schools? Well, what they didn’t say was once they got the lottery money, they cut education funding elsewhere. Now the Governor says if the new gas tax is passed, she can get some money back into the general fund that is being used for roads. And why is it, whenever the new gas tax is mentioned, there is never any reference to gas taxes just being raised in 2017? Remember the headlines? Gas tax hike to put Michigans rate in the top 5 in the whole U.S.? Registration fees were also raised to pay for roads. With the fifth highest gas taxes already in the nation, we do not need a 45 cent increase so the Governor has more money to dole out for votes in the general fund.

Maybe with such high gas taxes, maybe we don’t need to look at raising more income, but look at reducing cost. Prevailing wage reform anyone?

Jim Andersen

Bark River