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Snyder In Dearborn Rounding Up Supporters For Proposal To Increase Sales Tax

DETROIT (WWJ) - Governor Snyder being backed by business and government leaders in Dearborn Thursday as he continues campaigning in support of Proposal One, to fix the roads and raise the state sales tax for schools and local government.

While lacking the support of heavy hitters in politics and business, such as the state chamber of commerce, Snyder says they have the support of over one hundred organizations--

"You saw the business leaders here today, the Detroit Regional Chamber, professional fire-fighters ... we've got management and labor coming together to say how important this is," said Snyder.

What would Proposal 1 do? "It would amend the State Constitution to increase the sales/use tax from 6%
to 7% to replace and supplement reduced revenue to the School Aid Fund and local units of government caused by the elimination of the sales/use tax on gasoline and diesel fuel for vehicles operating on public roads, and to give effect to laws that provide additional money for roads and other transportation purposes by increasing the gas tax and vehicle registration fees."

See a copy of the Approved Ballot Language [here].

Wayne County Executive Warren Evans says the fact the proposal is not perfect should not be a reason to vote against it.

"We've neglected it, now it's time to fix it. This bill is the only option we have now to fix it and I think that we really need to think about this and support it," said Evans.

Evans is the only local county executive to publicly endorse Proposal One. The governor says there are over one hundred groups in Michigan that are also supporting the proposal.

John Rakolta, who heads-up one of the largest construction firms in the United States, Walbridge told WWJ that he supports the proposal and that the roads are suffering from 20 years of under-funding.

Rakolta was also one of the National Finance Chairs for Mitt Romney's 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Snyder says doing nothing for the roads will only make the conditions worse.

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