Big Spenders Relax: Projected Revenue Growth Easily Covers Road Fix Earmarks

A transportation funding package passed by the state House this week would annually earmark $600 million of state income tax revenue to road repairs starting in 2020. This comes from a tax projected to bring in nearly $9 billion this year and trending higher.

Yet State Rep. Jim Townsend, D-Royal Oak, called the plan a “fiscal time bomb.”

ForTheRecord says: Bottom line – revenues from Michigan's major taxes are expected to increase more than $920 million next year alone. That figure is likely to be even higher by the time the proposed earmarks gradually begin in 2018.

Increased state income tax collections contribute $305 million to next year's projected $920 million state revenue increase. In the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2016, the income tax is projected to bring in $9.2 billion to the state. And that’s just one tax. Overall, the 19 major taxes that make up most of the state’s non-federal revenue are projected to increase by $921 million next year alone, from $23.2 billion to $24.1 billion.