The Detroit News calls the proposed House Republican roads plan “fantasy” because it provides additional road funding from future tax revenue growth. The plan, an editorial states, calls for finding money “out of thin air.”

Michigan is already operating on increased revenue from recent growth. The state budget spends $3.5 billion more state tax dollars than it did in fiscal year 2011.

And recent growth is expected to continue. According to the House Fiscal Agency, revenue is going to increase above and beyond the requirements of the House Republican plan. It estimates that school aid fund and general fund revenue will increase by a combined $577 million next year and $574.5 million the year after.

The estimates will change when the future gets closer. But Michigan’s growth is real and this means more money for the state budget. It is appropriate to devote some of that growth to the roads.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.