Look, I’m all for “reinventing Michigan” and getting back on track and adding fairness to our tax structure and increased efficiency to government. If you ask who wants Michigan to be the best state in the nation in which to live, work and raise a family, my hand shoots up. But it’s not gonna happen under our new governor, Rick Snyder. Turns out he’s just another Republican politician, robbin’ from the hood to give to those in gated communities.
Michigan is facing a $1.58 billion budget deficit in 2011. So what do we do? Cut taxes on businesses to the tune of $1.8 billion and force state employees, seniors, schools and local governments to take a bigger hit.
Snyder wants to scrap the Michigan Business Tax and replace it with a 6 percent corporate income tax that would only apply to corporations with shareholders. He intends to make an estimated 95,000 businesses exempt from filing a state business tax return.
But wait, there’s more. Team Snyder wants to tax pensions, eliminate the Earned Income Tax Credit (which helps working low-income people afford to stay in the workforce rather than seek public assistance), and cut tax credits for film production in Michigan. (Opponents say the tax credit program, introduced in 2008, has created thousands of jobs and helped support businesses ranging from hotels and restaurants to carpenters and electricians.) And the “Tough Nerd,” as he called himself during the campaign, plans to cut tax credits for expansion or relocation, research and development, advanced battery ventures, brownfield redevelopment and historic preservation. Um, excuse me but making Michigan the worst state in the nation in which to live, work and raise a family isn’t exactly the reinvention I had in mind.
“Shared sacrifice” is a term being used a lot by Snyder and his ilk these days. But to me, it means everybody sacrifices – not state employees, seniors and retirees, low income folks, students and everyone except Snyder Administration officials and the business community. (Sorry, Rick, but when you’re a multimillionaire venture capitalist and former head of Gateway computers, taking a one-dollar salary isn’t sacrificing anything.) Does it send the right message when one of your first decisions is to pay your new state budget director – a guy named Nixon from Utah – a quarter of a million a year?
I’m sorry, but I just don’t like the guy. I don’t like his skewed sense of “fairness” and his seeming disdain for anyone who isn’t like him. I don’t like listening to his high-pitched, nasally, dweeb-y voice. He insulted my intelligence during the campaign by refusing to reveal his intentions or offer substantive plans or opinions on any issue. I can’t remember the last time a political candidate spewed so many clichés and platitudes and said so little to get elected. Now the “Tough Nerd” is making things tough indeed. Way to go, electorate.
Sources: Ann Arbor News, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Mlive.com, WILX.com
Good article. While a lot of folks are upset, many who are angered by Snyder probably voted for him; thinking he was the second coming of Bill Milliken. A moderate he is not.
ReplyDelete"I can’t remember the last time a political candidate spewed so many clichés and platitudes and said so little to get elected."
ReplyDeleteIt was every election in every state for the last 30 years, actually. Campaigns are no longer about substance, they're about who can make who look worse by using half truths, innuendos and outright lies. The problem is that politics is run by politicians. Shakespeare said it best; "The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers". I have said for a long time that lawyers should not be making laws. Get them all out of their offices, along with the big businessmen and start electing the small business people who have found a way to survive this economy because THEY are the ones that can get our cities, states and, ultimately, our country out of trouble.
Patrick, I manually update our Payroll tax tables at work. The new Fededral withholding taxes now start at 2100.00 instead of the previous 3500.00. So before, if you made less than 3500.00 you paid no Federal tax. Now if you make over 2100.00 you pay. When I saw this I thought to myself, how tragic. Taxing someone that makes just over 2000.00 is a crime. So this will affect teens, or people who have part time jobs. There are more and more poor people today...so we will tax the hell out of em! Sad.
ReplyDeleteSteve Bohnet
Recall
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