Opinion

Neither Spine nor Acumen ye Have

What is there to review, Mr. I was allegedly against it before I was beholden*? It is a Constitutionally amended spending bill clandestinely crafted by, Rick Snyder and Democrats toeing the MEA line, which if approved, will raise our sales tax 16.7%. The end.

If this were anything about fixing roads, then the House approved that before the advent of Rick Snyder’s One Penny Jenny Plan.
GasTaxRegistrationFreesHike

*Truth

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We’re Sure You’ll Wear Yourselves Out

Do study at least 16.7% of your days.

Enjoy any comp seats in the Bahamas, Rich.

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Why wait?

It's time for the creation a statewide "Tax Me More" Fund. Just think of the possibilities.

When I got back in range of Michigan radio stations this morning and caught the diabetes-inducing, sugar-coating that Gov. Snyder and the proponents of this road funding sham were trying to spoon-feed Michigan Taxpayers, several things came to mind.

Take a sip…you’ll enjoy it!!!

 

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Stop The 16.7% Tax Increase

Stop the sixteen point seven percent tax increase May 5th.

Higher taxes, and the return of redistribution aided advanced by Republicans in Lansing last night.

A May 5th special election will have poor voters deciding if they will be getting more cheese.  The corporate abusers will get their pie, and the rest of us in the middle will get the bill.  Pandering welfare gimmicks, corporate cronyism on steroids and a blanket party for the working class.  Whats not to love?

STOP-167

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Snyder’s Not A Political Guy

Certainly, 'politics' has been the buzzword for what should be completely accepted as simple coincidence.

gas-tax-hike-snyderRight?

Some amazing things have happened over the last couple of years.  A transparency bill that had 100% support in both houses was vetoed; likely because of its implication of deals going down with Canada on the international trade crossing.  The only other way besides political pressure to stop an override of the veto would literally be a gun to the head of our legislative leaders; and we know that didn’t happen did it?

Somehow, his legislative lapdogs (Bolger and Richardville) still pushed through (against caucus desire) the medicaid expansion which has an even more threatening effect on Michigan’s treasury.  Again, seeing no open coercion, it seems he was able to get his way quite easily.

Now in lame duck, all bets are off for a couple of moves that are sure to keep the crony friends of Rick Snyder rolling in dough.  Randy Richardville has moved forward on a monster GAS-TAX increase that will stuff the wallets of a lot of contractors, put steam in train engines, and make all the bike riders ‘complete’ly happy.  I don’t even need to drop the links on those; you know we’ve talked about it before.

But what pray tell might be the payoff for Richardville?  What might he see for his part in sticking it to the taxpayer of Michigan? Well certainly he has been shtooping us for the love of shtooping, right? But I would wager that if the interviews for the following happened last Wednesday as they were supposed to, I’ll bet you can guess what happens next.

Lets lay it out there.   There is an open district judge position in Novi. Over 30 people applied for the gubernatorial appointment, which is expected this month. On Wednesday the governor’s office was interviewing the five finalists. They are:

  • Marsha Kosmatka
  • Beth Hand
  • Gary Klein
  • Lori Fitzpatrick Timar
  • Margaret Scott
Guess which one is Randy Richardvilles special friend?  Here is a clue: It AINT the guy, and she doesn’t even live in the judicial district (psst ..I think she lives over in Birmingham)
Of course..  I could be proven wrong. The clock is a ticking, and there are so many more Michiganites waiting to be screwed.

 

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Constantine is Giving us our Wings

Not sure if others noticed this in the Detnews.com yesterday, however, while our strabismus AG rummaged about his archaic footnotes of legalese, and even citing back to his Democratic Party predecessor as to somehow absolve an end to justify a collectivist means – there is this.

Macedonian_MafiaOlympia keeps all revenue, including concessions and parking, and any naming rights deal. In an earlier interview with The Detroit News, Christopher Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings Inc, defended the way the arena was paid.

“A public-private partnership is the only way any of these type of projects work in an urban environment,” he said.

He pointed out that while The Palace of Auburn Hills was paid for by private owners, the key difference is it’s an isolated venue in the suburbs.

“The Palace gets all the revenues from parking, concessions, retail,” Ilitch said, pointing out that those sources of revenue are key to the financial success of a major venue.

Did you catch that? Out in the boonies of alleged sparse populous, a billionaire with his own money, is to house his own business with rightful privilege to any and all revenue gained from his ancillary services provided to his customer.

Now, contrast the above with the “urban environment” festooned within a bailout, and the opulence of guaranteed populous in a 143 sq mile boundary, it is unequivocally noted by said li’l Caesar, that not only is what is his, his – what is ours is also his too.

Added bonus to us outside the bowels of “urban environment“?

The state reimburses schools for diverted money.

Well, golly gee. Thanks a lot for that, too!

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So You Want To Buy Something?

So far, second thoughts might keep the additional burdens of doing business in Michigan at bay.

I have lost some big sales in other states because of ‘Amazon Laws’ in the past few years.

Its an amazing thing that happens when your cost of doing business in a state goes up by 10%. (Michigan will be 6%) You lose customers, they pay more, or you eat the costs.  The first option is of course the worst of the three, but when profit margins range between 15-20%, 10 points represents at least HALF the profits, and can be discouraging to even attempting to sell.

California has some of the most used shipping ports, so its natural that many warehouses are located there. It also has quite a large population.  Our business has historically sold more to California customers, than those in Michigan. But a few years ago, I was notified by one of my suppliers who drop ships for me in that state, that unless they had an exemption form on file for the customers, they would have to charge an additional 10% for the product to cover THEIR tax liability; CA Sales tax being 8% and an additional 25% tax for assumed mark-up.

I had a choice.  I could in some cases ship product all the way here, then ship all the way back, and salvage a few pennies, OR I could simply find a supplier for similar product in other state warehouses willing to ship to California.  The unnatural commerce that had to evolve (and quickly), wound up raising the cost of doing business.  It raised the cost and in some cases slowed service for the customers in California who were STILL expected to report their ‘USE tax.’

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