Government Incompetence

Fees, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Taxes

That Time Again

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Small Business Owners get to beg off of paying the license fee for their business tools to the state.

Because the legislature has never been able to properly address crappy PPT rules, and the underlying cause (overbig government).

Michigan is one of VERY FEW remaining states that will otherwise continue to assess your ink pens, mouse pad, sticky notes, and desk top knockerballs.  Here is a link to your hall pass, your permission slip; your way to avoid paying taxes again and again on equipment and office furnishings up to a value of $80k.  It is due on the 20th.

Two weeks.

You’re welcome.

You Betcha! (8)Nuh Uh.(3)

Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Fees, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans, Taxes

What Is Going On Here?

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Governor Snyder is attempting to resuscitate his reputation by benevolently raising your taxes.

Our ace Governor is not going quietly into the night as his governorship slides into the twilight zone. He launched two tax proposals last week which he touted as environmental initiatives. Neither raises enough funds to even remotely achieve his stated environmental objectives, unless the taxes he proposed skyrocket in the future. Both proposals are actually designed to expand our hopelessly inept (and periodically corrupt) bureaucracy. The environmental angle is just eyewash to sell higher taxes to the gullible. And those tax rates he proposes will skyrocket – bet on it.

First up is an increase in the current landfill tipping tax from $ 0.36 per ton to $ 4.75 per ton. Snyder claims this tax increase will raise $ 79 million for recycling programs. It won’t. The incremental revenue will be something less than $ 70.7 million, because 769,000 tons of solid waste from other states with lower tipping taxes will no longer be land filled in Michigan (pdf). Michigan landfills will suffer a 4.5% volume drop, which will be consequential. They will either curtail operations (read: lay off workers), cut workers’ wages or raises, and/or adjust tipping fees. Local units of government, which also collect revenue from their landfills, will suffer revenue losses as well. Environmentalists will applaud, but the trash is just being diverted to different land fills. There is no environmental benefit to playing musical chairs with garbage.

Governor Snyder implies in his press release that his proposed tipping tax increase will diminish Michigan’s solid waste imports from his Canadian buddies; the ones who are building his bridge. It won’t. Ontario landfill tipping fees start at $ 75 CAD per metric ton ($ 55 USD per short ton). Comparable Michigan landfill tipping fees are in the low $ 30 USD range. Snyder would have to raise the Michigan tipping tax by $ 25 USD, not the $ 4.39 he proposes, to materially reduce Canadian solid waste exports to Michigan. Keep in mind that the Canadians will ignore their transportation costs; they need to feed tolls to that fancy new bridge as cross border truck traffic otherwise declines.  Our Canadian neighbors didn’t pay for the Gordie Howe Bridge out of the goodness of their hearts.  It was cheaper politically than opening land fills.

A tipping tax which would actually impact Canadian trash exports would wipe out Michigan land fills and their workers. And all of our solid waste would be exported to other states, making Michigan many new friends across the Midwest. Yet tipping tax proponents will imply that the tipping tax increase will curtail Canadian trash exports to Michigan.

It won’t.

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You Betcha! (11)Nuh Uh.(0)

Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

The Wages of Sin

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Pucker Up Michigan Taxpayers, Larry Nassar Will Cost You More Than $ 180 Million

Some 144 155 victims of MSU Sports Medicine doctor Lawrence Gerard Nassar are making victim impact statements at his sentencing hearing in the Ingham County Circuit Court. From the tenor of their coverage, our depraved media are – for once – siding with the victims of crime rather than the criminals. Kiddie diddling is probably the last moral taboo acknowledged across our entire society.

What our media has not mentioned is the cost of Dr. Nassar’s crimes and who is going to pay for them. MSU is now facing over 140 civil lawsuits, along with the U.S. Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, and Dr. Nassar. Just one such suit has been settled, by USA Gymnastics, reportedly for upwards of $ 1.25 million. Its particulars are concealed from the public by a Non Disclosure Agreement, a legal device made famous by Harvey Weinstein’s defense lawyers. The plaintiff in the settled suit, McKayla Maroney, still has a lawsuit pending against the U.S. Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University and Dr. Nassar. Dr. Nassar is the only defendant who will not pay much. His few remaining assets after paying off his lawyers will almost certainly be shielded when his wife divorces him.

MSU has set aside $ 10 million to counsel women and girls who say Larry Nassar abused them. This ‘Healing Assistance Fund’ will be available to “MSU health clinic patients and student-athletes whom Nassar abused, as well as the parents of these victims” according to MSU. The sanctimonious leftists who run MSU have the utter gall to still be billing some of Dr. Nassar’s victims for their ‘treatment’, but that is not what this fund is for.  This fund is actually intended as a legal settlement fund

This fund is ridiculously inadequate. MSU management must think that USOC and USAG will bear the brunt of the Nassar settlements, or their hot shot lawyer Patrick Fitzgerald’s sovereign immunity defense will work.  MSU has not one, but two, high dollar white shoe law firms lined up to attack Dr. Nassar’s victims.  They won’t succeed. Dr. Nassar was an MSU employee. USOC and USAG made referrals to Dr. Nassar, but MSU was his employer and should have been providing proper supervision.  They didn’t.

Each of those lawsuits against MSU will settle out for $ 1 million or more. McKayla Maroney’s first settlement sets the standard. And the antics of MSU’s Board members should provide the plaintiffs with healthy increments in their final settlements.  Those white shoe lawyers need to have a talk with their idiot clients.

Who is going to pay?

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You Betcha! (13)Nuh Uh.(1)

Cronyism, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Philosophy, Taxes

Mo Money

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Eight years of tax increases.

Michigan taxpayers shelled out an extra $32.6 billion in state taxes over the last eight years.

Money collected in state tax revenue per Cap Con and their associated graphic:

The eight year total increase in taxes amounts to an aggregate of roughly $3,400 for every legal man, woman and child in the state of Michigan.

You Betcha! (7)Nuh Uh.(0)

All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Detroit, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Rent Seeking, Republicans

Rewarding stupidity.

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Come and meet the news boss…same as the old boss.

OPM.

Isn’t it grand to not be responsible for money.

Large sums of money, even.

Money that you would’ve thought SOMEONE would’ve learned their lesson after having their fat pulled out of the fire multiple times in the past.

Same characters played by different actors.

{This week’s stupidity players are revealed below the fold}

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You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(1)

Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Rent Seeking, Republicans

Now, how do you suppose HIS name got there???

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Politics and corruption are practically synonymous here in Southeastern Michigan.

Recent names (for most readers here, anyways) include such notables like Coleman Young (the first), Kwame Kilpatrick, The (almost) entire Conyers Family, etc.

Excluding VERY rare circumstances, they have been allowed to go pretty much unchecked by state and local officials since there apparently is some “unwritten” rule prohibiting county prosecutors and Attorneys General from investigating fellow politicians, regardless of party affiliation.

No, I don’t get it either.

Fortunately, this hasn’t stopped the Feds though from doing the job that local and state officials have been reticent to do.

I’ve honestly lost track of the number of investigations on Coleman Young (the first). Kwame Kilpatrick will be a guest of the Texas Penal system for at least two-and-a-half decades (obviously pending the outcome of another appeal attempt). Monica Conyers got to relax for several months after spending some quality time in Camp Cupcake. John Conyers got caught literally with his pants down around his ankles.

And then there is this guy???

Now, who is it you may ask?

{Continued below the fold}

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You Betcha! (13)Nuh Uh.(1)

All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Democrats, Elections, Government Incompetence, Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

Team D Candidate for Michigan AG effectively takes herself out of the race.

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Yet she cannot tell Michigan Voters about the $2-million she received by telling us that we were somehow wrong?!?

In a bid to somehow become relevant, Team D candidate for Michigan AG Dana Nessel released a campaign video citing her genitalia as the deciding factor  on whom to vote for in 2018.

Strangely enough, in her montage of people who are accused (but not convicted), several people are strangely absent.

Anyone want to guess which political party they belong to?

Here’s a hint

And another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

And who can forget this one?

Even more strangely is how the people mentioned above aren’t all dead by now…but I digress.

So below is the video in question. I’m certain that the donations will be flowing into her campaign coffers after this announcement!

 

 

You Betcha! (10)Nuh Uh.(0)

Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Republicans, Taxes

Sleight of Hand

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Fast Times At The Detroit Public Schools Community District

Norman Shy, the Detroit Public Schools vendor who stole $ 3 million with the capable assistance of 12 DPS principals and one DPS administrator, has begun paying his court-ordered restitution. The Detroit Free Press reported today that the Detroit Public Schools Community District has received $ 1.5 million from Mr. Shy, out of the total $ 2.7 million in restitution U.S. District Court ordered Mr. Shy to pay in September 2016.

The problem here? Mr. Shy’s scam looted the pre bailout/bankruptcy Detroit Public School District, not the new Detroit Public Schools Community District. The new Detroit Public Schools Community District was created in July 2016, before Mr. Shy’s sentencing but well after his 13 year long scam concluded.

The legacy Detroit Public School District still exists as a ward of the State of Michigan to pay off more than $ 500 million in ‘operating debts’. Debts which, in part, are directly due to Mr. Shy’s scam and dozens of other thieves. Michigan taxpayers at large are paying down those debts of the legacy DPS District, and will be paying until 2025 – if not longer.

Mr. Shy’s restitution payments should be paid to the legacy DPS District, not the new DPSC District. Its not like Michigan taxpayers owe these monies to the new DPSCD. Michigan taxpayers fronted the DPSCD $ 617 million as part of the 2016 bailout/bankruptcy, and the new, ‘debt free’ district is now being financed just as generously as every other school district in Michigan.

$ 1.5 million is real money.  Restitution should be directed to those financially damaged.  In this case, it is the taxpayers of Michigan – not the new Detroit Public Schools Community District – who were looted by Mr. Shy.

Anyone still wonder why Michigan residents are so ill disposed towards Detroit and its very creative government accounting practices?

You Betcha! (10)Nuh Uh.(0)

Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Fees, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Republicans, Taxes

Decision Time: DW&SD Rain Tax Comes To A Head In Court

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Detroit Water & Sewerage Division Has Colluded With Trial Lawyers To Avoid A Constitutional Test Of Their Outrageous 'Stormwater Fee'

The Detroit Water & Sewerage Department’s Non Residential Drainage Rate became a political hot potato in 2013 when the City finally started applying this breathtaking, disguised tax to all non residential properties within the City.  Mayor Duggan is scraping the bottom of the barrel for every revenue dollar he can find.

Prior to 2013, the City of Detroit only extracted this rate from 12,000 non residential property owners, although 41,237 non residential property owners should have been paying it. They also extracted this rate from the State of Michigan and Wayne County for roads in Detroit, after a lengthy appeals process which ended in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Detroit shielded politically preferred and connected property owners from this tax for 35 years, notably the politically powerful black churches.  But that ended in 2013 when the City of Detroit “discovered….that there are some errors with respect to our billing of stormwater charges”.

This rate, which is often referred to as a stormwater fee or the rain tax, is not inconsequential. It is now $ 660 – $ 750 per acre, per month. Run of the mill churches with on site parking were rudely surprised with $ 3,500 monthly charges in 2015, on top of their already expensive water bills. They thought as religious entities they were tax exempt. Tee-hee.  No one in Michigan is truly tax exempt!  Michigan Public Act 178 of 1939 (MCL 123.161 et seq.) converts unpaid DW&SD stormwater fees into a property lien, same as unpaid property taxes, so these fees quickly result in property foreclosures.

Ever wonder why Detroit has such a problem with commercial property blight? Now church blight is in the offing.

Non residential property owners in Detroit have just received a legal notice in the mail announcing a proposed settlement of a Wayne County Circuit Court class action case filed by Michigan Warehousing Group LLC and Midwest Valve and Fitting Company against the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department over the DW&SD’s outrageous stormwater fee. This case is identified in the Wayne County Circuit Court as 15-010165-CZ. The parties reached a settlement agreement which is carefully constructed to cripple legal challenges to the constitutionality of the stormwater fee in higher courts and handsomely pay off the trial bar.

The settlement notice fails to inform non residential property owners that another, far more comprehensive class action law suit is progressing in the Michigan Court of Appeals. Detroit Alliance Against The Rain Tax v. City Of Detroit in the Michigan Court of Appeals, Case Number 339176, just got consolidated with a similar suit on 24 October and appears ready for litigation – also as a class action.

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