Pinocchio tries to pull a fast one

No one likes to be lied to.

If Governor Rick Snyder had come forward and said Proposal 1 contains 10 other pieces of legislation

The Detroit News

he’d like to pass, then I might not have liked it but at least he would have been honest.

Taken individually, the 10 other pieces of legislation could have merit, but we’re well past the point of debating them as a package.

That’s because the governor’s television commercials to get out the vote in favor of Proposal 1 are not truthful. The commercials say, in plain English, that the sales tax increase would be allocated to one thing: fixing Michigan’s roads.

There’s no mention of anything else.

But the proposal actually triggers changes that include more tax credits for low-income families and seniors, higher registration costs for new cars and trucks and, incongruously, greater transparency on public school spending. And while it is billed as new money for road repair, half of the first two years of the new money will pay off bonds for roads that have already been built.

Worse – the governor has been seen in clips shown on newscasts saying there is no Plan B. If Proposal 1 fails, that’s it. We live with the rotten roads.

Not having a Plan B is very poor stewardship on Gov. Snyder’s part. I believe the governor is lying about that, too. He probably does have a Plan B that’s more palatable than Proposal 1, but he wants everyone to vote on the Prop 1 package as though that’s the only thing available to them.

 Then there’s the cost.

During the first year, if the proposal passes, it will cost every household in Michigan slightly more than $500 a year, according to a story carried in Monday’s Crain’s Detroit Business. The story, written by The Associated Press, says after the first year that figure will drop slightly, to about $450 per household annually.

That’s a lot of money to pile on in an economy that’s not very good. Michigan still lags behind about 20 other states in recovering from the recession.

For all those reasons, I can’t see supporting Proposal 1. If you’re still undecided, get on
Google and search Proposal 1 Michigan. If the governor wanted Proposal 1 to pass, he should have offered up a clean bill that addressed the roads, period.