Tag: Tax Hikes (page 2)

It seems as though it was only Months ago, that we were praising the House Speaker for his stand on a state employee health purchasing option. In fact it WAS only months ago, that Dillon (contrary to the position of his union supporters) rang the bell, leaving little wiggle room for speculation that he would abstain from the governors race in this upcoming cycle.  He expressed a relatively "conservative" position on the matter, and set the tone for what will now follow as an slightly more than interesting primary race for the Michigan Democrat party.

How are each of you on this magnificent morning?  I woke up with a spring in my step and a song in my heart. (It was the theme song for Perfect Strangers, if you were wondering.)  Toss in the fact that the Tigers play two today against the hated Chicago White Sox complete with a chance to expand the percentage-points division lead and how could anyone complain on a day like today?

Well, I mean, I know HOW folks could complain.  But if that's all you want to do then you're going to have to take that noise somewhere else.  Nobody's brining the rest of us down on a Happy Friday.  Now... to the news!

Let's start in the Ivory Tower, which scored an encouraging exclusive interview with Detroit Mayor Dave Bing.  During their private sit-down Bing announced that he'd seen the light and better, he's ready to act on the Motor City's financial troubles:

After spending most of his first two months in office poring over Detroit's financial books and organizational structure, Bing said the city is so deeply in the red that the following measures must be taken to avoid bankruptcy:

• The consolidation and elimination of some city departments.

• A reduction in nonessential city services.

• Concessions by city employees, including job losses in some cases.

• The hiring of an outside emergency collection agency to help recoup some of the debt owed to the city.

Bonus for Detroiters... not a new tax hike on the list.  Remember, Bing is a Democrat in a 100% Democratic City but he's also a successful businessman who knows exactly what tax increases do to current and potential job makers. The fact that he's looking to plug a $25 million deficit by right-sizing government should be enough to get every Detroiter jumping up and down. Except, maybe, for some of the over-priced bureaucrats whose jobs are suddenly in danger.  (And yes... that counts as happy news, too.)

Bing's apparent leadership on the whole deficit issue looks even sunnier when compared to his Party's leaders in Lansing.  

The Granholm-Cherry administration took precisely the opposite approach yesterday during their own discussions about pools of red ink but even that provided some of the better news conservatives have had in a long, long time!

(There's a bright, shiny silver lining if you read on...)

Yesterday's announcement of House Republicans' plan to rescue the state budget from drowning in red ink, free up millions of stimulus dollars to plug directly into the economy and completely avoid the tax hikes the Dillon Majority and the Granholm-Cherry administration have promised didn't just get short shrift... at one "news" outlet it actually got NO shrift.

MLIVE provided a prominent link for part of the day yesterday, the Lansing State Journal has the story and the Detroit News buried the story in fine print half-way down their front page but our friends at the Ivory Tower decided a massive package of reforms and cuts that'd actually solve this dag-blamed budget crisis simply wasn't news worthy.

What do we get instead from the FREEP?  The front page contains "above the fold" stories (as it were) about the Red Wings (which is actually OK with me), Michael Vick, Delphi workers frustrated by part of the "bailout" plan... and a discussion of a boat race.  

Maybe on their dedicated "Politics" page?  Nope.  The top five actual stories, in order:

-Obama defends healthcare plan to Americans
-Dems line up as possible Macomb County Exec
-Michigan Democrats test water for ballot proposals
-Union-tied lawyer joins Michigan governor's race

In between the third and fourth is a pro-Obama puff piece Q & A page ostensibly designed to help viewers better understand what the President said during last night's television address.  

Anyone notice a trend?  National Dems, local Dems, statewide Dems and Dems in the biggest race this election cycle.  

If you only read the FREEP it isn't that you don't know House Republicans proposed a massive spending and regulatory overhaul that ends the state's budget crisis without raising taxes... it's that you don't even know Michigan Republicans exist!

Alas... this morning eeeeeveryone knows that Mark Brewer exists and job providers across the Mitten have already begun looking at real estate listings in other states.  That's the sort of thing that can happen when the Chairman of the Democratic Party stands up in an overwhelmingly Democratic state and tells anyone listening that he may be looking to launch a ballot proposal aimed at using rocket fuel to propel the minimum wage to an astronomical $10 an hour.

(Read on...)

RightMichigan has learned that this morning in Grand Rapids, Michigan House Republican Leader Kevin Elsenheimer and the caucus will be unveiling a genuinely sweeping package of budget cuts and reforms that won't only balance the books and eliminate the Granholm-Cherry administration's $1.8 billion budget deficit, it'll also free up $700 million in federal "stimulus" funds the Democrats were planning to burn on the bloated bureaucracy.  

And all of that without raising taxes a nickel.  Which would also be a pleasant switch.

The "Reinvigorate, Reinvest & Reform Plan" is being described by House Republicans as a comprehensive package of government reforms, targeted budget cuts and prioritized spending that protect the most essential of government services while freeing up nearly $700 million in federal stimulus funds that can be used to invest in programs that create jobs and help pump life back into Michigan's languishing economy.

"This is a plan that shows the budget can be solved without raising taxes - it offers tangible solutions and real savings for this and next year's budget. There is no fuzzy math, no hidden agendas or falsehoods here," said Elsenheimer (R-Kewadin).

"We offer this plan to majority caucuses, the governor, the State Budget office and most importantly, the taxpayers of Michigan. It's one solution to our crisis and anyone is welcome to use some or all parts of it. We have no pride of authorship, we only want to help balance the budget and put Michigan on the right track."

Love that last line.  A little bit of selflessness and genuine interest in solving problems goes a long way in my book.  But I might just be sappy.

Alright, so what does the plan actually do?  

You can check out the entire proposal, including line-by-line, department-by-department savings and reforms by clicking the plan below.

Big picture, the plan, among many, many other things looks to:

The same day we learned that Michigan's economy, in the third year of his "leadership" of the state House, has reached a devastating 15.2 percent unemployment rate and that 740,000 Michiganders are officially jobless, the ugliest number since they started keeping the statistic in 1976, Dillon strode to a podium in the Capitol City and told reporters that moms and dads across the state will be forced to endure yet another tax hike.  

Peter Luke reports:

Balancing the state budget in the next 10 weeks will require a combination of cuts as well as revenue, he said.

Never mind the fact that higher tax rates do more harm than good to total tax receipts as they force companies out of business, workers out of jobs and families out of Michigan (remember that "budget-balancing" $1.5 billion tax hike in 2007 and the precipitous fall revenue has taken each year since).  

Never mind the fact that a $10 million-plus property tax hike in Macomb County only three months ago, while aimed at wiping out county government deficits long term, has done nothing more than administer steroids to the problem, producing a projected $32.2 million deficit in 2010 and 2011.

Never mind the fact no one has ever squeezed blood from a stone.  Yesterday afternoon the House Democratic leader made his intentions pretty clear... grab your wallets (those of you who can still afford them) because Lansing's coming calling.  Again.

Not that that's why Dillon called his presser... like a magician distracting you with one hand and hiding an object with the other the man just snuck that one in there and hoped no one was paying attention.  Abra-kadabra.  Poof!  He's going to make our bank accounts disappear.  

And while it certainly won't be worth the price of admission, the distraction coooooould wind up being pretty interesting.

Read on...

No, wait, scratch that.  Too much access for the average Michigander. Change of plans from the White House.

Breaking!  Breaking!  President Obama is going to visit Macomb County today and will be holding an open forum where Michigan moms and dads, while not permitted to speak, will have a chance to attend and hear what the President has to say in person.

Nah.  White House thinks that, too, amounts to too much face time with normal folks.  Try this one...

Breaking!  Breaking!  President Obama is going to visit Macomb County today and will hold a glorified press conference in front of a sycophantic press corps and select invite-only Democratic Party big-wigs?

There's the ticket.  And the only ticket.  No duckets for Michigan's working or unemployed.  Which is a shame.  Even if he isn't inclined to speak to us "normal folks," there's a lot the average Michigander could and very likely would communicate to the man who has injected the federal deficit with anabolic steroids.

Read on...

So we'll forgo it today.  

That's right, I'm not going to pick on the Ivory Tower for their ridiculously disconnected suggestion that Michigan's real problem is that it taxes too little, all-but urging Lansing to raise taxes across the board by 4 percent in the middle of the toughest economy in the last ninety years.

No sense in going into the Detroit News report that Detroit City Councilwoman and Democrat JoAnn Watson is now embroiled in a massive tax-cheating scandal that make's Governor Granholm's problems with the tax-man (and multiple tax liens) look light weight.

Not even going to pick on the AP editor who somehow managed to headline an article with a sentence that starts "50 Cent" and ends "shot in Grand Rapids." And you know how much I love Fitty.

Instead, I'm going to track down my dad and my brothers and tell them "thanks" for the time they spent serving our country and putting themselves on the line to protect the rest of us.  And I'm going to take some time to remember those who never came home.  Those guys are my heroes.  All of them.  They're yours too, whether you know it or not, so find a couple yourself in between the burgers and the dogs and say thanks!

And since you are curious (or I like to imagine a few of you are) and I'm not shy I'll tell you a secret, too.

Grand Rapids voters today are being asked to approve another giant tax hike (it's a $110 million project) to expand bus service down South Division, the street that cuts the River City in half, running north to south.  The project is being touted as a way to create 189 jobs at the bargain basement cost of $582,000 each.

There's already bus service that runs down South Division but apparently we need MORE bus service running down South Division.  Technically the "new" service is probably a little bit flashier than that but when you boil it down, it's just another bus line.  They're calling this one the "Silver Line."  (The old busses are the "Bronze Line" I presume.)

If (or when) this new tax increase passes... see, here in Grand Rapids we fashion ourselves very progressive, metropolitan, green-friendly... hippie-light... the local mass transit boosters will invariably get started on next year's campaign for the "Gold Line."

2011 will bring Platinum.  2012 we'll have Diamond.  By 2025 they'll be making up precious metals and gems.  The Adamantium Line in 2030 will offer doorstep-to-doorstep service anywhere in the Lower Peninsula via a new three billion dollar annual tax levy exclusively on residents of Ada.

For whatever it was worth, I voted NO and would have done so twice, had I been blessed with as few scruples as your average ACORN community organizer.  

Better yet, I rode my green Schwinn mountain bike down Eastern, a street that runs parallel to the Silver Line's proposed route, to get myself over to my voting booth.  Never let it be said that Nick De Leeuw isn't willing to do his part for Mother Nature.  

Now if only every Silver Line booster would make the same commitment I made, we could save the city from smog, the planet from humans, South Division from traffic congestion, homeowners from foreclosure and the singles in my wallet from abject loneliness.