The first error was my claim that the plan was to raise the sales tax to pay for road repair. I was wrong; it was an even worse idea. The tax plan presented to pay for the roads was not a sales tax hike, it was a sales tax hike on everything EXCEPT gasoline to cover that the sales tax on gasoline at the pump would be removed and replaced by a tax on the wholesale price of gasoline. The increase to the sales tax was because none of the current sales tax on gas goes to road repair, but to the general fund that pays for everything. The increase would cover the fact that the funds generated by the sales tax on gasoline would be lost to public institutions (like schools and local governments which have already been hard hit).
My second error was in not noticing that Michigan was already following my plan. While none of the current sales tax on gas goes towards road repair (again all sales tax goes to the general fund), Michigan already has a flat tax on the volume of gasoline (19 cents per gallon of gasoline, 15 cents per gallon of diesel) that goes entirely to road repair. The plan (that was turned down) would eliminate that reasonable tax for a volatile (and changeable) sales tax on the wholesale price of gas.
I also didn't notice that this measure was brought to the voters because it was a change in Michigan's Constitution. The current state government is primarily composed of people who claim to hate taxes (and won't use the current powers that they have over taxes), yet they proposed this plan to give them new powers to make entirely new taxes, regressive taxes. They were trying to remove the limits that had been put in place to stop them from funneling money from the poorest in the state to the wealthiest. I really should have caught that.
I honestly believe that most people in public office are doing what they believe is best for us. The problem is that most are disconnected from the people who make up "us." They think that "us" is only made up of people like themselves, and unfortunately for most of them that means people with connections to businesses that benefit at the expense of their workers and customers.
Anyway, my new "plan A" is to increase the current amount of the flat tax on gas and diesel by 5 cents (and levy a tax on ethanol and other alternative fuels that currently aren't taxed) for a fund on road repair until the current crisis is over a moderate pool is set aside for the next emergency.