With the new year came new regulations and new laws, raising the gas tax and vehicle registration fees for the first time in 33 years.

The unleaded gas tax in Michigan has gone up 7.3 cents from the previous 19 cents per gallon. Diesel fuel has risen even more, going up 11.3 cents from 15 cents per gallon.

This leaves both types of gasoline adding up to a total of 26.3 cents.

This is separate from the 6 percent sales tax, which only goes toward fuel purchases and not to maintain the roads.

The tax will eventually add $1.2 billion dollars a year to the plan to fix state roads.

The effect that the tax has on a driver’s wallet at the pump should only be a small one, though some people are bothered by where their money is going.

Junior Metéo Booth said that the new tax does not bother him.

“I know it isn’t good, but I can still afford it,” Booth said.

In addition, the fee to register vehicles each year, which renews a vehicle’s license plate, has increased 20 percent.

Trent Desrochers, junior, said that the rise in registration fees and the fuel tax are pointless.

“It’s pointless because they take it based off of what the car was originally worth and not what it is now,” Desrochers said. “They’re going to tax us more on gas, but they can’t fix the roads yet.”

The road fixes that the state needs will also be put off for another few years.

The general fund going toward the roads will begin in 2019 at $150 million, increase to $325 million the next year, and finally go up again in 2021 to $600 million.

Junior Grace Hoffman is upset with this decision.

“We need new roads now, not four years from now,” Hoffman said.