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Raise the curtain.

Details on Granholm's Tax Hike on Families Emerge

By Nick, Section News
Posted on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 06:51:15 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)

RightMichigan.com was the first to put a price-tag on Granholm’s tax hike on moms and dads across the state. Listening to her sunshine and roses speech we estimated conservatively that she’d propose $3 billion in higher taxes on families.

This is one of those times when it hurts to be right.

Gongwer News Service reported last night (and FREEP and DetNews report this morning) that in addition to a direct $1.5 billion increase in the form of a regressive sales tax on families, Granholm’s budget will go on to propose nearly $1.5 billion in additional business taxes (and a variety of other taxes… see below).

Now all of the economists in the room will have a bone to pick with me on this one. They’d tell me there’s no such thing as a “business” tax since increased costs are inevitably passed along to you and me, the consumers. And, of course, they’d be right.

But the "business" portion isn't the worst of it. What everyone in the state should be up in arms about is the tax directly on families! Instead of getting her own house in order in Lansing, she’s going to try to balance the budget on the backs of moms and dads in a state already in crisis.

How many times has Granholm lectured the state about social safety nets and protecting the poor and vulnerable in our communities? Now the first chance she gets, she hammers them with an increased sales tax. That’s money directly out of the pocket of the single mom in the apartment down the hall. Another couple bucks out of the wallet of your neighbor who just got laid off. And that nice young couple who goes to your church and has been struggling to pay their mortgage? It just got a lot harder.

Michigan is in a state of crisis and it just got a heck of a lot worse! All of the talk and all of the hyperbole about structural problems and seizing moments and fixing things now instead of passing problems off to real leaders down the road was so much hot air.

Granholm’s answer to wiping out her budget deficit is to give every family in the state of Michigan their own deficit to deal with. And we wonder why people are running for the borders?

Tax proposals (at a minimum) as follows according to Gongwer News Service:

Tax/Budget By the Numbers

Sales tax:

• $1.47 billion in new revenue from 2 percent tax on services

• $1.028 billion on business services

• $450 million on individuals

• $180 million cut by providing tax on difference between vehicle trade-in and new car price

Michigan Business Tax:

• $450 million net cut in business taxes compared to Single Business Tax ($250 million of that for small businesses)

• $550 million net cut for Michigan-based businesses.

• $100 million increase for out of state businesses.

Other taxes: