Former state Representative Al Pscholka of Stevensville is one of the most qualified people in Michigan to break down Governor Whitmer’s budget proposal, as he served as the House Appropriations Committee chairman and as budget director for Governor Snyder after leaving the House. Pscholka talked to WSJM News about several aspects of the budget, first and foremost being the fuel tax increase proposal. He says Governor Whitmer is “trying to put down a marker here” with the thought roads are a $2.5 billion annual expense.
“She threw out a huge tax increase of 45¢, something that nobody ran on, nobody has talked about before, and that;’s probably the shockwave that’s going through Lansing right now,” said Pscholka. “That’s the big item that I think she wants debated.”
Pscholka says a bipartisan group of former legislative leaders proposed a 47¢ hike, but that would be done over nine years. He adds he’s surprised no one has yet proposed using marijuana taxes to fix the roads.
“There could be $600 to $700 million there just in marijuana taxes, maybe even more. It could be a situation where, seriously, you have ‘pot for potholes.’”
He says something that hasn’t gotten much attention is a tax increase on small business that’s included in the budget.
Whitmer said the General Fund, which handles all sorts of state expenditures, has been stagnant for 20 years. Pscholka agrees with Whitmer that the General Fund is worth a lot less than it used to be, as it’s at the same $10.7 billion level is was under John Engler in 1990.
“There’s a tremendous amount of pressure on the General Fund in terms of roads, the Healthy Michigan plan and lots of earmarked spending that’s been put into it,” said Pscholka. So, how can that get bigger? The economy.
“The General Fund will continue to grow as long as you have income tax growth, and that means you need wage growth and job growth and you need to keep the economy going.”
Pscholka added Republican leaders in the House and Senate were “shockingly very quiet” about the budget proposal in the first few hours after Whitmer and Budget Director Chris Kolb laid everything out. He says it will be an interesting few months to see how it all plays out, but he believes lawmakers and the governor will have it done by the end of June at the latest.
You can hear the full interview with Al Pscholka Wednesday morning on “Taking the Lead with Ray Gustafson” on News/Talk 94.9 WSJM.
