Poll Shows Residents Want to Fix Roads With Tax Increase

A new statewide survey suggests Michigan voters are willing to boost their taxes to fix the state’s roads. A year ago only 30% of people were willing to support any kind of tax increase to pay for roads. But this year, according to a poll by Lansing-based Marketing Resource Group, that has more than doubled. MRG’s Tom Shields says in large part the nearly 70% citizen support for an extra $10 per month in taxes to maintain and improve roads and bridges is traced to the lousy winter and the resulting potholes that drivers are dodging everyday. But anti-tax lobbyist Scott Hagerstrom of Americans for Prosperity contends working families don’t want to pay more and that money already in the state budget should be shifted to fix the roads.