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Snyder, Lawmakers Ready to Go Back to Drawing Board if Proposal 1 is Rejected

File photo of road construction by WMUK
WMUK

Michigan voters go to the polls tomorrow to decide whether to raise the state’s sales tax and boost road funding. 

A number of polls suggest the proposal may be in trouble. This is one of Gov. Rick Snyder top policy priorities. But says he and lawmakers will go back to the negotiating table if voters reject the plan.

“If it doesn’t pass, then I’d describe it as relentless positive action – we’ll just go back to work and come up with another run of solutions,”

Snyder told reporters last week. That’s a significant change in tone for the governor, who previously relentlessly emphasized that no “Plan B” exists if Proposal One fails. He cast doubts that another solution could be ironed out, noting that lawmakers would likely take the proposal’s failure as a sign that their constituents have no appetite for a tax increase for roads.

State House Speaker Kevin Cotter (R-Mt. Pleasant) says he also hopes the ballot question will pass – but he’s already thinking of other possible solutions if it doesn’t.

“I have - let’s call it ‘ideas’ at this point. I have ideas,” said Cotter. “And this will be a priority until it is solved.” “I hope we’re talking about celebrating the passage of the plan. To the extent that we aren’t, roads is still going to be front and center.”

Proposal One would raise the sales tax from six percent to seven percent and increase road funding by more than $1 billion a year. It would also boost funding for schools and local governments.

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