 ccrp poll will you vote for the sales tax proposal in may 2015   a parting message it has been an honor to help keep all of you informed and updated on what is happening politically in clinton county around michigan and in washington dc by periodically providing you with opinion polls regarding issues of importance and concern to all of us for the past 5 plus years both carol bechtol and i have maintained the ccrp website by posting information and articles relating to what is happening in the political world we live in in addition we have periodically asked for your input in regard to issues going before the various legislative bodies in the form of opinion polls hopefully you have found the website informative and you have participated in our polls expressing your feelings on these important issues i would also like to acknowledge our website blogger scott stoecker who will continue to do his blog going forward into 2015 as of january 1 2015 carol and i will be stepping back from our responsibilities for the maintenance and updating of the ccrp website and looking forward to finding out what retirement really is like the poll associated with this newsletter will be our last poll the poll results for the last poll will be sent to you on december 31 2014 at which time the polls will be discontinued hopefully you have found the ccrp website beneficial over the last 5 years and that you will continue to use it as a resource in the future as for me i will still be around and active politically just in other ways always with the desire to make things better and to keep politicians accountable sincerely steve willis ccrp webmaster and outgoing clinton county chair new poll overview the michigan legislature has approved plans for a statewide ballot proposal that will appear on the ballot in may of 2015 that could yield 12 billion a year in new funding for roads and bridges the linchpin of the package is a proposed constitutional amendment to increase the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent if the ballot proposal is turned down a series of other roadsrelated bills would not take effect but the internet sales tax will still be enacted the following would be the impact of the roadfunding package if it is approved by the voters tax hikes 12 billion gas tax hike michigan drivers will pay 23 centspergallon more in gas taxes for a total of more than 60 centspergallon that would give michigan the highest gasoline excise tax in the nation additionally over time as the price of gas rises that tax will go up without a vote of the legislature or input from taxpayers as part of this ballot proposal 134 billion sales tax hike there would be a 16 tax hike in the state sales tax on the michigan ballot if approved the rate would rise from 6 to 7 including on internet sales 95 million dollar increase in registration fees special concessions as part of the bill 260 million for eitc assistance the earned income tax credit resembles direct government assistance such as welfare and food stamps more than a tax credit filers who pay out nothing in income taxes still get a check from the government under this program 300 million more for education establishment more money would be allocated for public school apparatus even though michigan is one of 21 states that employ more nonteaching staff than teachers 130 million more for mass transit the package would allocate mass transit programs 130 million a move that was viewed as necessary to buy support from detroitarea politicians breakdown of allocation of funds by recipient based on governor snyder rsquo s administration estimates of the fullyear impacts of the bills in this package the total net impact of the package assuming voter approval of the proposed constitutional amendment would be an estimated annual increase in state revenue of 17 billion and automatic increases estimated net impacts for individual funds would be as follows 12 billion per year for distribution to road agencies 391 to the state trunkline fund 4922 million 391 to county road commissions 4922 million and 218 to cities and villages 2616 million except that for fy 201516 the first 800 million of this revenue would be dedicated for paydown of transportationrelated debt for fy 201617 the first 400 million would be dedicated for paydown of transportationrelated debt 300 million to the school aid fund saf 130 million to the comprehensive transportation fund ctf for public transportation purposes 95 million for constitutional revenue sharing payments to cities villages and townships new poll question should michigan voters pass the tax increase ballot proposal in may 2015 to raise the sales tax from 6 to 7 yes no undecided to vote in this poll click on this link http wwwclintoncountygopcom content shouldmichiganvoterspasstaxincreaseballotproposalm  to enter your comments click on add new comment after you vote previous poll question do you feel a new department of talent and economic development is needed in michigan yes 46 no 49 undecided 5 three comments were made on this poll comment 1 new state department we would be in favor only if it didn t involve raising taxes not now not in the future comment 2 talent vs substance as a public servant we need talent in elected not selected office we need those in office who are going to man up woman up to lansing politicians when are we going to wake up and quit playing politics i just had a client announce the closing of their us department of defense operation here locally why because the us government has moved all of those operations to off shore contractors the silence is defeaning office of talent and work force development please how much more overlap do we need  http wwwstateintegrityorg michigan  comment 3 new department typical government add new departments never really seems to fix the problems but does expand government and increase taxes over time   all emails addresses  