Legislative Craftsmanship at its Finest
A week ago we found out that the new road tax package vehicle registration fee system would end its Federal tax deductibility. Now Gongwer News Service is reporting another glitch, this time in the gasoline sales tax provisions of the road tax package:
Fix Planned to Correct Sales Tax Problem in Roads Plan
The administration of Governor Rick Snyder will seek legislation to correct a potential problem in the road funding plan that as written would lift the sales tax off of gasoline only for motor vehicles, but not for boats, snowmobiles and other non-road purposes like generators and gasoline-powered equipment.
As currently constructed, that would create a mess for retailers who theoretically would have to determine whether or not to charge the sales tax and even ask customers filling up a gasoline can what the intended use of the purchase is. The Citizens Research Council of Michigan, as part of a broad analysis it is conducting on the road funding plan, noted the quirk and provided the information to Gongwer News Service.
It will be interesting to see how Governor Snyder fixes this. Purchasing gasoline for your boat or ORV could become a really entertaining bureaucratic exercise. Ready for the ‘Gasoline Police’? Think of the new forms to be filled out.
CRCoM is a collection of the usual corporate interests orbiting Michigan government. Not certain why they would have ratted out this bungle to Gongwer, but it does suggest a certain degree of unease among the establishment.
(17)Nuh Uh.
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This is one more straw added to the pile for the reason to vote NO on May 5 on Proposal One.
Good God! You know, ever since these faux-conservative, big spending, special interest agenda Republicans took over Lansing, under the leadership of Juris Doctor holding CPA Snyder, weepy Calley with ongoing "family matters," and SB 992 Schostak, et al., this state is even more f**ked up than Hogan's goat.
Off road fuel (gas and diesel) is not charged the road tax portion but, we sure as Hell do get nailed with the sales tax portion. As noted before, anyone dense enough to fuel their watercraft/snowmachines/ORVs/lawn equipment at the same pump they fuel their vehicles deserves an extra tax for being dumb. Plus, rec gas is ethanol free, which plays a lot less Hell on the aforementioned equipment.
The issue with the 16.7% Sales Tax Hike scheme remains with the per gallon fixed tax being replaced with a rack price tax (wholesale).
Anyone with any sense can see from the history of Rack Price that for some folks there's going to be a lot of Ramen noodle meals in their future: http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=EMA_EPM0_PRA_SMI_DPG&f=M
But, but, but Crude Price is dropping? It sure is. Even Darth Cheney's peeps are axing jobs: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-10/halliburton-cut-6000-jobes-crude-carnages-crucial-50-level
Enjoy your *cheap* gas now. It ain't gonna last long.
Near as I could figure, the gas tax at the pump would have been $ 0.12 per gallon higher on unleaded regular, on January 1st, if this Proposal was then in effect. It only gets worse if you buy higher grades of gasoline, and as the years go on. Under this proposal, the Michigan gas tax goes full New York, the state with the highest gas taxes in the nation. And then there is the 16.67% sales tax increase
Yep. Precisely why I created this tag: Tis not 1 percentage point – it is a 16.7% Sales Tax Hike – 30% Registration Fee Hike – ultimately a 200% Tax Hike on Fuels
Low and behold, what is the newest posting to pop up under that tag?
Go figure.