Rep. Dianda introduces bill to repeal increase in vehicle registration fees

LANSING — State Rep. Scott Dianda (D-Calumet) introduced House Bill 4251 Thursday to repeal the increase in vehicle registration fees that was approved as part of the Republican roads plan in December 2015. The increased fees took effect this year, and Michiganders are now paying 20 percent more to register their vehicles.

Dianda voted no on a House and Senate Republican-backed roads plan in 2015 because working families are already paying a higher share of their income in fees and taxes than the wealthy, and U.P. residents are already stuck with higher expenses than residents in other parts of the state.

“These higher fees to register a vehicle are going to hit U.P. residents even harder than others in Michigan because we are already paying more for necessities such as heat and electricity,” said Dianda. “We can’t go without our cars in the U.P., especially in the winter months. Paying more to register a car means families have less money to spend on their kids’ needs, and seniors on fixed incomes will have to decide which bill to put off so they can renew their registration and legally drive their car to the grocery store or a doctor appointment.”

The higher registration fees, coupled with an increase in the gas tax, is supposed to raise a large portion of the money needed to get Michigan to the $1.2 billion per year it needs to fix and maintain the state’s roads and other transportation infrastructure,

Dianda’s bill would repeal the higher fees and roll the vehicle registration fee back to 2016 levels. This decrease would apply for private citizens’ vehicles and commercial vehicles.

“My bill would give working families and senior citizens a much-needed tax decrease,” said Dianda. “The Michigan Department of Transportation already gets a lot of our tax dollars. We should know that they are spending that money wisely before we give them any more.”