Taxes

Michigan Political Math: $ 1.2 Billion = $ 1.08 Billion

Mass Transit Skims $ 120 Million from Proposal 2015-01 Road Work Funds

Train Wreck ImageEver hear of the Michigan Comprehensive Transportation Fund? Ten cents of every Michigan fuel tax dollar gets diverted to this mass transportation slush fund.  It is only just behind the sales tax as a diversion of your current fuel tax dollars from Michigan’s roads.

All motor vehicle fuel taxes collected in the State of Michigan are first deposited into the Michigan Transportation Fund. Then MCL 247.660 (1)(f) (Public Act 51 of 1951) dictates that 10% of the funds deposited in the Michigan Transportation Fund be immediately transferred to the Comprehensive Transportation Fund. The amended version of MCL 247.660 you are being offered in Proposal 2015-01 has the very same section (1)(f), making the same 10% immediate diversion.

So the $ 1.2 billion that Proposal 2015-01 supporters are promising you for road work is actually only $ 1.08 billion.  Kirk T. Steudle, P.E. gets a whole new stash to maintain and expand his stable of rotting train cars, $ 120 million that cannot be spent on the roads by law.  $ 120 million that gets skimmed from the $ 1.2 billion you are being promised for the roads.  And no, it is not skimmed from the $ 800 million that Proposal 2015-01 dedicates to the Democratic base.

Now you now know how Michigan political math works in the age of Common Core.  Pay $ 2 billion for roads, get $ 1 billion in road work.

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And this year’s award for most original tax hike goes to…

And our nominees are:

Gov. Rick Snyder’s 16.7% sales tax hike raising $1.945-billion in order to spend $1.2-billion on roads.

– Sen. Rick Jones/Rep. Tom Barret’s school tax (extrapolating the same supporting arguments from the above can be easily made here).

Rep Joel Johnson’s horse-drawn vehicle tax (no, I’m serious…this guy really wants a tax horse drawn carriages).

Rep. Robert Kosowski “sinking fund” school bus tax.

Oh, and there’s one more.

{After the fold, of course}

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Here Comes the BIG SCARE

Boy, the desperation is getting thick within the Ineptocracy that is Lansing, and D.C.

The Federal Highway Trust Fund, which accounts for nearly one-third of the state’s transportation budget, made about $1 billion available to Michigan in 2013. That’s 8 percent less than five years earlier and 15 percent less when adjusted for inflation, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

AutoBailoutVisitSo, where the Hell were Senators Levin, and Stabenow? Why did they allow our state to flounder while their man Harry Reid, was in charge? $3 Trillion?

The funding that generally comes from federal gasoline and diesel taxes was up 20 percent over a decade but down 5 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars [happens when .FEDGOV prints money].

The AP analysis also shows that Michigan ranked seventh-lowest among states in per-capita federal transportation funding in 2013 and second-lowest in per-capita overall spending on highways, roads and bridges [why is that?]. Only Georgia spent less per capita.

The same problem that has left the Highway Trust Fund teetering with insolvency [snip]

Go figure. Can you imagine why the Highway Trust Fund is insolvent? Remember, there’s 535 of them all doing the same thing.

is vexing Michigan — people drive less and with more fuel-efficient vehicles while paying per-gallon gas taxes unchanged for two decades. For the last four years, Gov. Rick Snyder and lawmakers have had to divert money from the general fund [snip]

Call it what it is. The diversion or, *stolen* money is a replacement, and an additional tax mostly because a Granholm era boob running MDOT is unaccountable for infrastructure spending, and frivolous railroad schemesmore here – among other wasteful nomenclature frills. Seriously, MDOT has been a documented rogue agency since at least 2006 (yes, guess who?), which oddly enough has ample resources for making videos. Try doing that in the private sector and one would be out of business or, fired, and sued for criminal and/or civil damages.

to ensure the state receives its matching federal transportation money because traditional revenue sources — state fuel taxes and vehicle registration taxes — are lower or stagnant.

Registration taxes are drying up? Well, gee, go figure what happens when Lansing’s Republican Majority loots what isn’t theirs. Went after pensions when it wasn’t necessary? Instantly $10,000,000,000+ flew the coop. Broke the 2007, promise by raising the State Income Tax, which they applied to those pensions. Those two raids alone stole money from folks who have decided to put off vehicle purchases, especially, the retirees who got plundered by Snyder. Look, it ain’t the undischargable student loan debt-slave Millennials who have money. Hell, they can’t even figure out that when borrowing for higher education it effects tuition rates to rise (another cluster**** conversation for another time).

Back on-point.

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We’re 31st!

FFI 2015 Overall Rankings Screen-Shot

The twenty-five year old John Locke Foundation has just released its First in Freedom Index for 2015. The Freedom Index ranks states for the level of freedom allowed their citizens in four weighted areas of policy:

Fiscal: 50%
Education: 20%
Regulation: 20%
Health Care: 10%

Michigan ranks 31st overall among the states in the Freedom Index. Dismal per capita levels of state taxes, spending, and regulation weighed down Michigan’s rankings. Michigan’s ranking in the individual policy categories are:

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Yet, Granholm’s Kirk Steudle Hasn’t Been Fired nor Jailed

The latest ongoing MDOT buffoonery from Auditor General, Doug Ringler.

dozer-money“Our review … identified 48 of 92 [52%] expired warranty projects that needed corrective action,” the report said. “As of June 30, 2014, 24 of the warranties had been expired for over one year without MDOT having addressed the corrective action.”

MDOT said it agrees with all six recommendations made by the auditor general and is taking action to improve its system of monitoring and enforcing warranties.

“By October 2015, MDOT, in working with the Department of Attorney General, will develop a procedure for non-responsive contractors that have been notified to perform warranty work,” the department said in part of its response to the audit.

But the auditor noted that similar issues were raised in an earlier audit, released in 2010, and at that time the department said it would “strengthen its procedures to assure the completion of inspections.”

MORE

Hmmm, something to hide here, Mr. Steudle? And, the AG is involved? Can one say like placing a fox to watch the hen house? I can, as they all, the AG, the MDOT Director, and MSP Director, sit on the same committee endorsing Snyder’s Democrat wooed Proposal 2015-1 better known as the $2,000,000,000 16.7% Sales Tax Hike with double taxation for off road agricultural and recreational fuels, 30% registration fee increase, and loss of IRS deduction – among other handouts to buy votes.

Bonus? Just like clockwork, it’s Norm partying in Tampa Shinkle and Dan Pero’s wife Colleen to Snyder’s rescue (No, seriously!). How about it, Rule of Law Ruth? Nah, not so much as a peep.
STOP-167
Shame on those who seldom follow the linked information here on RightMi.com, because we all are truly getting the government that’s deserved, and getting it good and hard.

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Happy Deer in Michigan

Michigan Hunters Not So Happy

Happy Deer

DNR just slyly reported that Michigan hunting license sales dropped to 729,000 in 2014, a 4.2% drop from 2013 sales and the all time low in data extending way back to 1958. This drop is even worse than the numbers suggest, since the new HB 4668 hunting license rules require base licenses for hunting activities which did not require licenses in previous years. And if you believe President Obama and his statistical mathmagicians, the U.S. economy surged at a 5% GDP growth rate in 2014Q3 just before Michigan’s traditional firearms deer season. Michigan’s population increased by 11,684 people in 2014, the third consecutive annual increase. So the number of hunters should have increased in 2014? But the number of hunters in Michigan dropped, and hunter numbers declined because license fees skyrocketed under HB 4668 of 2013.

The most popular hunting license prices increased 50 – 100 % under the new 2014 fee schedule, although a direct comparison is not possible because the licenses were restructured under HB 4668 to ‘simplify’ the license schedule. Even though the DNR has not released license sales dollar amounts yet, we can still sketch out the doleful effect of the DNR hunting license fee increases on Michigan’s staggering economy.

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Overloaded Your Asses, huh?

Think that EITC part of the Proposal 2015-1 equation isn’t a fool’s errand? Look at what $9,400,000,000 gets us just to maintain floundering employment while buying poverty moocher’s votes.

“The goal should be to try to honor these agreements or, in the context that if there are changes, they’re mutually agreed to,” Snyder [Mr. Avalon, founding chair. Yes, that John Truscott] said in a Detroit News editorial board interview. “These are major job creators. They’ve helped bring us back economically [what Team Obama says] in the state and we shouldn’t overlook that fact.”

NerdandJohnSnyder said he wants to work with companies holding the business tax credits to “bring better visibility” and “transparency” [a Snyder priority. No, seriously.] to the tax credits, which will consume more than $500 million a year in general fund tax revenue until 2029. The final tax credits awarded under the Michigan Business Tax [thank Brian] don’t expire until 2031, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

The MEDC [Snyder’s Mini-Me] has asked companies to agree to redeem their credits in the year they were issued and give the state a three-year forecast on using tax credits to help governors and legislators budget for the subsidies.

But Snyder did not rule out pursuing legislation to put new rules in place for when the tax credits could be cashed in. [here, pull this finger.]

“I think the starting point should be what we can do in a mutually agreed-upon fashion,” Snyder said.

Mike Johnston, vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Manufacturers Association, said his members, which include Detroit’s three automakers [$3,000,000,000 yes, Ford too], are open to helping state officials know when they will seek tax refunds.

The games all these mother******* play with other people’s money is downright obscene.

We now return you to your regular Team R points its collective finger’s at Granholm programming…

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Paging Little Ronna … Paging Little Ronna Romney

Ain’t this Detroit News story just delightful?

Imaging that. And, CPA Snyder’s $250,000/year numbers guru John Nixon, bails out of Michigan a year ago, too? Go figure.

Snyder enlisted the help of Detroit attorney George Scott Romney, the brother of 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, in bringing Nixon to Michigan, because Romney shared ties to Utah and the Mormon faith.

“They’re just a wonderful family,” Romney said of Nixon, who along with his wife, DeAnn, has six children between the ages of 4 and 17.

“I was disappointed” to hear Nixon was leaving, Romney said, but “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for him.”

Leaving is “a wonderful opportunity”? That’s an understatement. Then again, ‘ol Elder “Arithmetic” Romney ain’t never been too sharp with numbers, has he?

24 + 4 = 30

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Now it’s $51,000,000 to $70,000,000 for a “Better View of the Capitol”?

via WXYZ

Hmmm, now where have we seen these money grab pay-to-play schemes before? Oh! That’s right, Wayne County. And that worked out just swell, yes?

Marshal_Arlan_Randy_Ficano_ShawarmaI’ve long said that Ross Jones, is the only reporter in Michigan, worth following. Unfortunately, there’s a new Senate Marshal in Lansing (heavy on the marsh part), and he goes by the nickname of, Sen. Arlan Randy Ficano.

With obscene waste above nonchalantly endorsed by Boji’s Engler era chatterbox, and the $54B budget Snyder/Calley presented, are folks beginning to understand why his SOTS “Vote Yes” propaganda completely ignored by “Chief election Officer” Ruth Johnson, is little more than a Republican Majority instituted Jizya tax?

I, for one, sure as Hell hope so.

Ps. for those who may be unaware, the same folks involved with the Boji building shenanigans are also behind another $88,000,000 unnecessary project in, Lansing.

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