Posted on 05/31/2019 8:57:24 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer threw down the gauntlet on Thursday for Michigan residents who are both sick of the state’s abysmal road conditions, and also not nearly high enough.
“At its height, the taxes for marijuana will raise about $42 million dollar per year for infrastructure. We have a $2.5 billion dollar problem,” Whitmer said at the Mackinac Policy Conference, referencing the state’s 10% excise tax on its newly legalized recreational weed industry—a portion of which is allotted for infrastructure repairs.
After explaining that she gets asked about using marijuana funds to fix the roads so often, she ordered her staff to crunch the numbers, Whitmer issued her challenge:
Every man, woman, and child would have to smoke about $2,500 of marijuana a year to fix our roads. And let’s be honest, at that level no one’s gonna care about the damn roads.
This is clearly not Whitmer’s preferred outcome, but hey, she’s raising the prospect.
Whitmer’s “pot for potholes” (her line, not mine) comments come at around 25:50 in the video below: (video at link)
In fact, when you factor out underage stoners, that number goes up to $10,000 per year, according to the Metro Times, which also quotes Whitmer using a similar line in a speech to the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.
Instead, Whitmer has proposed a $0.45-per-gallon gas tax to fund her state’s cratered roads—an idea that’s sure to be popular in the heart of America’s automotive industry.
So, there you have it, Michiganians: Either pay much, much more at the pump, or start getting super-duper stoned. It’s a real dilemma, but I’m sure you’ll make the right decision.
Cute.
Someone gets it.
The state government won't spend those dollars any wiser than it has all your other taxes.
We just back from Colorado and their roads are amazing. No potholes in the areas we were in(Loveland, Denver and Estes Park) With pot taxes and toll roads makes a difference. We go to Ohio, Indianna and other states are always better then Michigan. They rob the funds for our roads every year.
Last year blew a hole in my tires in the sidewall getting on ramp to I-94 from a pothole. Bent my rim.
If it was legal in my state, I was a pot smoker, and I had seeds, I’d simply grow my own. Heck, I did it in the mid-70’s easily enough. The stuff is a weed, for crying out loud.
You won’t need roads.
You’ll just want to sit on your back porch and smoke pot and not bother nobody.
You were in the high-rate tourist areas. They take good care of those roads.
Just say Yes!
Government pushing pot, trying to get millions of people hooked on pot and becoming unproductive members of society. That won’t work. Obviously she’s a democrat.
$2500 aint a lot of budd ..
Hi.
Isn’t $2,500 a lot of pot smoking for a year (or two)?
5.56mm
“Every man, woman, and child would have to smoke about $2,500 of marijuana a year to fix our roads.”
Like, hey man, I don’t even live in Michigan, but I’m willing to help out...
Government always does things as foolishly as possible.
This is just another example.
Am I misreading this? People are claiming that pot taxes will do all these amazing things, and the governor is saying that there won’t be some huge windfall it sounds pretty smart to me
Headline doesn’t match the story.
Michigan Governor may want to check with California on that plan didn’t work out however tire sales are still doing great.
Whitmer’s “pot for potholes”... a similar line in a speech to the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.
What's her FR nick?
It’d be cheaper to stuff the pot in the potholes ... but then the road fatality rate would take off like a rocket from pothole thieves getting run over.
I don’t like the current governor, but why create fake news? Idiot blogger.
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