The Michigan Senate is expected to take up legislation this week that would suspend the state’s 27 cent per gallon gas tax for six months. Republican lawmakers say it would ease the pain at the pump for everybody. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has hinted she’ll veto the bill, and Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist told Michigan News Network the same Tuesday morning.
“We believe that our proposals — cutting the retirement tax, tripling the earned income tax credit for working families, the stuff we’re doing to get money in the pockets of first responders and education professionals and childcare workers — that money in pockets can help people manage these expensive things that are happening right now,” Gilchrist said. “We think that those proposals are going to get it done, but we’re willing to negotiate with Republicans when they have something that’s a reasonable proposal on the table.”
Gilchrist points to the latest economic numbers as proof their plan is working. The report indicates the state has had nine straight months of jobs increases, now with 217,000 new jobs year over year, and the third-fastest declining unemployment rate in the country, currently 4.9%.
