LANSING – Rep. Wayne Schmidt said creating a surcharge on tires for all vehicles, including bikes and off- road vehicles, could be one way to help raise the approximately $1.6 billion needed to fix Michigan’s roads.

Schmidt (R-Traverse City) told Gongwer News Service Wednesday that bikes and ORVs have their own lanes or wider shoulders to accommodate their riders.

“We also should look at, and it might not be the right idea, but ORVs and bicycles,” he said. “When you’re looking at it, since we have bicycle lanes or bigger shoulders on county roads, maybe it is something that you look at to make sure everyone is paying their fair share. Some people are concerned, and it is an issue with alternative fuel and electric vehicles, are people paying their fair share? We’re tossing out a variety of ideas, I’m not going to say this is the end all, be all, but let’s talk about it. I’m not going to dismiss anything right out of hand.”

Schmidt also said the transportation package is going to require votes on both the Republican and Democratic side, so when he made a recent comment about increasing the Earned Income Tax credit, it was just one example on a different way of thinking.

The EITC was reduced in the 2011 tax overhaul from 20 percent of a taxpayer’s federal EITC to 6 percent, and Democrats have called for increasing the credit.

“We all have our different issues, and that’s just something that I tossed out there as an example in talking with Sen. Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw Township),” he said. “Because when we’re talking about the possibility of raising $1.6 billion to fix our roads, bridges, rails, airports, etc. – it’s a heavy lift and we’ve got to make sure the hard working people in the state of Michigan are going to get a bang for their buck.”

Schmidt said it is important to listen to every idea and to have a different variety to choose from because now is the time to “get it done.”

“I think this is the one shot we are going to have at it. The people of the state certainly deserve better than what we have been giving them in road funding,” he said.

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