(The Center Square) – A new EPIC-MRA poll shows 82% of Michigan voters want all taxes collected at the gas pump to fund and fix Michigan’s roads and bridges.
The 600-sample poll of statewide active and likely November voters took place Feb. 13-18 via live interviews and calling cell phones.
The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4%. It found an 82%-13% overwhelming majority said all taxes paid at the gas pump should fund improvements to Michigan’s roads and bridges
After hearing details about the 6% sales tax paid at the gas pump and learning about funds diverted from transportation, 66% favor legislation to require all $1.1 billion to go to transportation.
Questions were commissioned by the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association. Survey respondents were asked, “Do you think that all of the taxes that you pay at the gas pump should or should not go toward funding improvements to Michigan’s roads and bridges?”
In response, an 82% majority said all taxes paid at the gas pump should go toward funding Michigan roads and bridges, 13% said no, and 5% were undecided.
By Michigan regions, the strongest support for having all taxes paid at the pump going to roads and bridges came from Central Michigan at 95%, with the weakest support coming from Western Michigan at 76%.
Trump voters support all taxes paid to go to transportation by 85%, Biden voters by 80% with undecided voters offering the same opinion by 79%.
Conservative voters favor all taxes going to transportation by 88%, moderates by 80% and liberals by 77%. Democrats favor taxes going to transportation by 79%, Independents by 84% and Republicans by 85%.
Voters with household incomes of $50K-$75K are supportive by 92%, followed by voters with incomes under $50K by 87%, those with incomes of $100K-$150K by 82%, incomes of $75K-$100K at 76% and incomes over $150K by 72%.
MITA Executive Vice President Rob Coppersmith said Michiganders want all gas taxes to fix the roads.
“Michigan voters have long made it clear that fixing Michigan’s crumbling infrastructure is a top issue for the state,” Coppersmith said in a statement. “For decades, the state has neglected properly funding infrastructure improvements, resulting in a $3.9 billion infrastructure investment deficit. It’s clear that we must explore a broad variety of options to fill that gap, and utilizing taxes collected at the pump could be part of that solution.”
The poll follows a report that Michigan needs an additional $2.4 billion to fix county roads.
Coppersmith called for a long-term sustainable funding mechanism to fix the roads.
“Collecting taxes at the gas pump to fund our infrastructure network has long been viewed as an equitable method to ensure that users of Michigan’s infrastructure are equitably paying for the resources they utilize,” Coppersmith said in a statement. “Currently, of the 6% sales tax collected at the pump, which generates around $1.1 billion annually, only $50 million goes to fixing our roads and bridges, with the remaining funds being dedicated to education and local communities.
