Legislation Would Reduce the Cost of Gas by $.27 per Gallon
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Amanda Fisher, NFIB State Director, 517-927-1058, [email protected]
March 9, 2022 (LANSING) – The state’s leading small business advocacy organization, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), commended House and Senate leaders on their efforts to lower gas prices in Michigan by suspending the state gas tax of $0.27 per gallon through the end of September.
“Small business is grateful to Senate Majority Leader Shirkey and Speaker Wentworth and the legislature for taking quick action to help mitigate fuel costs in Michigan. The current increase in fuel costs will have a chilling effect on an already fragile supply chain,” said NFIB State Director Amanda Fisher.
“For many small businesses, the ever-increasing costs of materials and labor as they try to recover from the pandemic is unsustainable,” continued Fisher. “Unlike bigger businesses, small businesses do not have the margin to absorb such a dramatic increase in costs.”
According to the NFIB Research Foundation’s February Small Business Economic Trend Report, 68 percent of small business owners have had to raise prices due to increased costs in materials and labor. Additionally, owners citing inflation as their most important business problem increased to 26 percent, the highest level since the third quarter of 1981.
“We are perplexed as to why Governor Whitmer would call on the federal government to suspend the federal gas tax, but has indicated a refusal to consider the same at the state level. With the current budget surplus and federal money to backfill lost dollars, there is no reason not to sign this legislation as soon as it hits her desk,” said Fisher. “Anything and everything should be done to help lessen the impact of the current situation on small business as Michigan weathers another economic crisis.”
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For more than 75 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses, and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
