And what ever happened to that whole “I-BELIEVE-government-must-practice-fiscal-responsibility-and-allow-individuals-to-keep-more-of-the-money-they-earn.” mantra?
All I’ve got to say here is: “Beware of bipartisanship”.
{More below the fold}
So as you’ve already heard, certain “republicans” felt it was best to chuck their principles (along with their honor) down the toilet and kow-tow to the ever-growing chorus of protestors (along with that lying snake Gov. Snyder) consistently whining about the prospect of Michigan abolishing the income tax and doing the unthinkable like allowing us to keep more of what we have gone out and earned on our own.
“You can’t do that!”, they’ll argue.
“How will we address the $1.1-billion ‘loss‘ of revenue?”, is the invariable follow-up.
Their arguments are simply a feign to misdirect everyone, so let me negate them both toot sweet.
When Gov. Snyder took office, his 2011 budget was about $47-billion, last year it was around $54.9-billion.
Doing the math, it should be easy to see why Gov. Snyder (and others) are being disingenuous (again) to Michigan Taxpayers.
So a 52-55 vote against and we are told “Nothing to see here.“ We are expected to go about our business and forget about everything.
Well, that is, unless your name is Rep. Jason Sheppard and you gave your word that you’d be voting for abolishing the income tax. You’ll now be collecting your nameplate (and other things) from the committee you served on until just last week.
Thank you, Speaker Leonard!
While the provisions under Art. 4 § 16 of the Michigan Constitution would be a far better solution. Stupidity should be painful in any instance.
Oh, and by the way, there will be a “Sit Down with Sheppard” on Monday, February 27th from 4:30 to 5:30pm at Great Lakes Eatery and Pub in Dundee. Be sure to stop by and say “Hello” to the ex-chairman.
But, this isn’t about allowing us to keep more of what we have gone out and earned, its about making things easier in Lansing for other, ahem “favors”, to get addressed.
What most people aren’t aware of is the fact that there is another tax bill being considered in Lansing. Five of them, in fact.
SB-111 through SB-115 (a.k.a. “Gilbert” Bills) are another attempt to give up to $1.8-billion in “tax breaks” via a rather unique method to business developers.
These are essentially the same bills that were brought up during the last session of the Michigan Legislature, but didn’t go very far.
This year, it’s different.
Sen. Kowall made this point crystal clear by expediting this package of bills into Third Reading just last Wednesday.
Reader’s Digest version: If developers build something in certain cities, they should be rewarded for this benevolence, by being allowed to not only avoid paying sales tax, but would collect Michigan Income Tax from their employees and keep it all for themselves instead of sending it to the Michigan Department of Treasury.
Must be nice, eh?
Obviously, HB-4001 literally short-circuits this package of bills, which is why (IMHO) it had to get shot down last week.
Now granted, I wasn’t exactly the biggest supporter of Rep. Chatfield’s bill. But my reading this weekend of the details behind what really went down just ticked me off even further.
Speaking of getting ticked off, did I mention that this isn’t the first time that Dan Gilbert was (potentially) pulling strings?
Dan Gilbert pulled a similar stunt about a decade ago when he finagled a similar bill from Lansing to get about $200-million for another one of this projects.
The kicker here is that he threatened to pull his HQ out of Detroit if he didn’t get his way.
When pressed by The Cleveland Plain Dealer about the feasibility of actually pulling off such a large move, Gilbert fessed up about his bluff by claiming:
“…it’s awfully hard to move 3,500 people.”
Just something to keep in mind in the coming days when Lansing looks at addressing another tax cut bill.
SB-111 - 115.. My next project. Thanks for bringing up that pay for play garbage..
Lansing is more corrupt than ever.
It's time for plan B to go into effect: acceptable language has already been approved for a part-time legislature and this language needs to be resubmitted--but not before all the grass-roots, bi-partisan groups are effectively organized. If each member takes one petition and obtains 12 signatures, we can have enough signatures to submit to the legislature in a week. You want to show might and power--show how organized we are--get those signatures--submit those signatures and take matters into OUR hands. If everyone who signs donates $1, we'll have enough money to pull this off. This is a bi-partisan effort and this can be done in short order. Keep in mind, I believe Michigan is but one of two states with full-time legislature what do 48 states know that we don't? Term-limited, part-time legislature--it be like heaven here in Michigan. Anyone game?????
Ms. Schwartz,
There will be another Trump flashmob on March 4th (Something I'm working on posting here once I get more info).
Sound like a good place to start handing out petitions & flyers...