Slam the brakes on that gas tax pause idea for Michigan

We’re all getting a little relief from $5-a-gallon gas this week with statewide prices dropping 24 cents. Who knows how long that will last? 

The war in Iran. The Strait of Hormuz. When will it all end? 

Not soon enough for Republicans, who are being dragged to the bottom of the sea with President Donald Trump’s sinking job approval numbers. 

GOP gubernatorial candidate John James this week called on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks to immediately suspend the state’s 52.4-cent-a-gallon gas tax.  

The call comes as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency to suspend its state’s 33.3-cent gas tax, joining Indiana, Kentucky and a few other states in such a move. 

Could something similar be done in Michigan? Yes.  

Will it? No. 

It would take all three state government leaders – Whitmer, Brinks and House Speaker Matt Hall to sign off on it. None of them appear willing.

Remember, last year House Speaker Matt Hall drove the state to the brink of a government shutdown over the creation of a new gas tax in which 100% of the state tax money collected at the pump went to roads. 

Before, the state collected sales taxes on gasoline. But since our roads crumble quicker from all the freezing and thawing in the spring, Whitmer, Hall & Co. pushed for more road funding.  

“Fix the Damn roads,” and all of that. Suspending the gas tax shuts off that spigot.  

As part of the 2025 plan, the state was supposed to collect $420 million (yeah, I know, “420”) a year for roads from the new 24% wholesale tax on pot, but that’s not bringing in the money as well as hoped. 

So, if Michigan suspends taxes on gasoline and diesel, even for 90 days – after the election – Michigan’s transportation system stands to lose $693 million more, according to a back-of-the-napkin calculation from a state fiscal analyst. That’s $693 million that is not going to fix the damn roads.  

Would Gov. Whitmer – Ms. Fix The Damn Roads – really leave office by sacrificing road funding money for some short-term political pandering that her party doesn’t need? 

Then there’s Brinks. She’s Jocelyn Benson’s running mate now. Benson has called for a federal gas tax suspension, but she’s four-square against a state gas tax suspension, saying it would “blow a hole in our budget, and force us to forgo necessary road repairs.” 

Fair to say Brinks will not be putting a gas tax suspension on the board for a vote. 

Now, let’s turn our attention to Hall. The Republican Speaker could push the issue for short-term political gains, but he is not. 

Instead, last week he watched his committee chairs shoot down Democratic amendments that tried to tie basically every bill on the planet to pausing the gas tax. 

“We worked really hard to make a deal,” Hall told me. “Now we’re starting to fix our roads and, now, for people to try to suggest that we should change course and stop that progress would be the wrong approach.” 

He said he sees any vote to suspend the gas tax without a revenue replacement as “not a serious proposal” and one that would only be done for “optics.” 

Hall could do a vote for optics, like the House vote Sept. 23 against socialism, but he said he’d rather the chamber’s policy votes be part of a broader deal, like legislation related to medical debt or energy prices. 

Beyond that is the fact that the road building industry was generous to Hall and House Republicans as the 2025 road funding package was passed, campaign finance records show. 

Road building companies and employees more than doubled their contributions to legislators on both sides of the aisle after the 2025 road funding deal was cut, according to a Bridge Michigan report from January. 

For lawmakers to throw up a stop sign in hopes of saving drivers $10-$15 on a fill-up isn’t worth the aggravation of incomplete road projects when the snow starts falling.