As rising fuel prices continue to increase costs on Michigan families, state Rep. Ken Borton and the Michigan House of Representatives today approved a plan to remove the state gas tax for six months.

House Bill 5570, which Borton helped sponsor, would suspend the state motor fuel tax beginning April 1. By pausing the tax of 27.2 cents per gallon, the plan is estimated to save Michigan drivers about $750 million over the six-month period.

“As Northern Michigan drivers fill their gas tanks, the outrageous prices drain their bank accounts,” said Borton, R-Gaylord. “We’re putting the brakes on speeding prices by stopping the gas tax for six months. Families will have to pump out less money under our cost-cutting plan.”

House passage of the plan comes despite a political cop-out by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who yesterday urged Congress to support current legislation that would suspend the federal gas tax temporarily. The federal tax is only 18.4 cents per gallon, and the Legislature’s plan would enable greater savings on each gallon of gas.

Borton and the House also approved House Resolution 250, calling for Whitmer and the federal government to support policies to enable energy independence in the United States. In addition to calling for more oil production in the United States, the measure also urges the governor and Attorney General Dana Nessel to end their partisan attempts to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, which transports oil and natural gas through Canada, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The House approved HB 5570 with bipartisan support, and it now proceeds to the Senate, which is expected to approve the plan next week.

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