Taxes

Elections, Michigan, Rent Seeking, Taxes

A Tax Increase

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Misrepresenting reality is apparently the new tool for school

Perhaps it is time for Lansing to actually fix prop A.

The local public school district is trying to sell the renewal of a 2007 bond as not being a tax increase.  Even IF the tax would be zero sans its approval.  Going from ZERO to 3.1 is an increase, yet the radio commercials tell us otherwise.

No wonder each generation is dumber than the last.

PART of the problem may be that the schools have maintenance issues that can only be addressed with new buildings?  When a roof fails, they say the building is done, not because a brick and steel structure is bad, but because the operating money from Lansing is not quite enough perhaps?

I have often remarked that this is like buying a new car when the tires go bad.

The promise of an end to a bond that is USUALLY assigned to a project, is apparently as empty as the young heads full of mush after 13 years in our public schools.   If they cannot get to fourth grade without being able to read, they haven’t a chance in deciphering the political nonsense used to sell us this S*** on a shingle ..quite literally.

Gimme a break TCAPS.

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

Conservative News, Democrats, Detroit, Firearms, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans, Taxes

Michigan Criminal Justice Reform: Too Much, Too Soon?

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Recidivism Is Worse Than We Have Been Told

Michigan has been at the forefront of ‘criminal justice reform’, which is newspeak for prison population reduction. In just a few years, Michigan has driven the MDoC prison population down 18%.  Democrats love criminal justice reform because it gets one of their major constituencies back on the streets, and voting. Republicans love criminal justice reform because it cuts prison spending, which has become a bottomless pit with all the various mandates. Both of these views are decidedly near term.
The question for non criminal Michigan residents is longer term: will crime rates rise as more prisoners spend less time incarcerated and more time in your neighborhood?

A study just released by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics undermines the case for criminal justice reforms intended to reduce prison populations. This study contradicts previous studies which showed much lower rates of recidivism, probably because it better tracks released prisoners who have moved to other states and also looks at a longer time frame.

This BJS study followed 67,966 state prisoners released in 2005, in 30 states, over the 9 year period following their release. This was a statistically representative sample (16.8%) of the 404,638 prisoners released that year in those 30 states. The BJS study included 2,603 Michigan individuals; sampled from the 12,177 releases from MDoC custody during 2005.

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Conservative News, Elections, Michigan Politics, Republicans, Taxes

House Speaker Tom Leonard’s Support of ‘Special Assessment’ Tax Hike Shows Leadership Unbefitting of an Attorney General

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Recently, I received an email showing all of the “conservative leaders” throughout the state of Michigan who support House Speaker Tom Leonard for Attorney General. This list of leaders assured me that Leonard’s leadership record in the House was impeccible and that he is a man who “truly understands our issues and stands up for our values.”

Then I saw that he voted for House Bill 5325 (HB5325), legislation that hikes property taxes on homeowners for the purposes of crony giveaways to well-connected private interests. This scam is called a “special assessment” and a similar scheme may be on a local ballot in your municipality in the near future. This fraud is now picking up steam because of Leonard’s actions.

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Rent Seeking, Taxes

Quis Solvet? MSU Settles With Nassar Victims For $ 500 Million

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Michigan has the least elite elites in the nation

Who exactly is going to pay the $ 500 million that MSU just agreed to pay to 332 victims of Dr. Lawrence G. Nasser?

MSU says they can’t tap their $ 3 billion endowment, which was the focus of former President Lou Anna K. Simon (and why she wasn’t paying any attention to Nassar and Strampel).

This bleed will probably eclipse that of the Flint water fiasco. From the Detroit Free Press:

The settlement, which covers all 332 current claimants, will cost Michigan State $500 million. The school will pay $425 million now and hold $75 million in reserve in case other Nassar victims come forward.

MSU will now work on how it will pay the settlement, MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant told the Free Press.

Survivor attorney James White said this is a chance for the survivors to begin to move forward.

“I don’t think they can ever be made whole, but this is a step in the right direction,” he said.

The settlement was announced Wednesday, after the Detroit Free Press published news of the settlement, following two days of closed-door mediation sessions between lawyers for the university and the survivors.

Terms of the settlement are as follows:

• $425 million dollars will be paid to all current claimants

• $75 million dollars will be set aside in a trust fund to protect any future claimants alleging sexual abuse by Nassar

The settlement was approved by the MSU board in a conference call Tuesday night.

I underestimated the costs here by $ 25 million, when adjusted for the additional claimants who have come forward.

Strampel’s cases are not part of this settlement, so there is more bleeding to come.

This disaster is on the Democrats, exclusively.

Michigan has the least elite elites in the nation.

You Betcha! (12)Nuh Uh.(1)

All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Taxes

Employing a tried and true tactic…holding a tax hike vote during the lowest voter turnout.

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...or worse yet, when Taxpayers aren’t even made aware of it by a complicit local media.

Even though this is affecting strictly Macomb County, I would HIGHLY recommend that readers contact their local clerk’s office to see if there is anything similar occurring in their part of Michigan.

Despite the fact that their current millage hasn’t even expired yet, the local community college not only decided to place a millage hike/renewal on the ballot, but they have done a slam-bang up job of letting everyone know about it.

I cannot imagine why?

{Continued below the fold}

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Government Incompetence, Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Republicans, Research & Analysis, Roads, Taxes

Oh no! This doesn’t look too good.

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With County leaders going off-script and not following the established speaking points. When your (possible) PR-firm goes and takes a page from the Coleman A. Young (The First) Playbook and employed a time-worn (and easily recognizable) tactic which hopelessly backfired. When The Bridge Magazine (of all people), comes out and tells people that the latest iteration of mass transit, the Q-Line, over-promised its potential and hilariously underperformed when it comes to paid ridership and maintaining schedules. Now comes the Michigan Legislature throwing yet another log on the fire that is the RTA.

{You’ll need to click below to find out what that is}

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

Another nail in the coffin.

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It’s amazing what falls under the radar in the local news.

So recently, Oakland Co. Exec. L. Brooks Patterson announced that he will not be supporting the RTA tax when it come up again on the ballot again this fall.

The response was very predictable. The leeches and parasites (aka Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Wayne Co. Exec. Warren Evans) threw a hissy fit that a.) they weren’t notified in advance, b.) they felt that they already had an agreement in place to jam it down Southeastern Michigan Taxpayers Throats, and c.) the RTA would collapse like a house of cards because the cost to Wayne County would be too great.

The sycophants of the leeches and parasites in the local media (read: The Freep) threw an equally unimpressive temper tantrum..using the same talking points.

Well, guess what?

Macomb County got into the act as well (and it doesn’t look too good for the RTA tax).

{More below the fold}

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

Did we just dodge another huge bullet here?

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While I don’t agree with Oakland County Exec. L. Brooks Patterson on some things (okay…most things), kind of like a stopped clock, he finally got something right for a change.

According to The Detroit News, during his annual address to Oakland County last night, County Exec. Patterson came out whole-heartedly and unequivocally against the RTA Tax v 2.0.

 

Why should ANYONE be made to pay for something that they will not use?

No, the ballot proposal hasn’t officially been announced for the ‘18 General yet. My snitches tell me that they are still working out on how to best polish this heaping, steaming pile of bull droppings, without much success.

Good luck on that.

Citing the lack of hard facts from what those pulling the levers behind the scenes will actually do with the monies collected, much like one of the laundry-list of problems with the last proposal, County Exec. Patterson said this,

“… I can’t do it. I won’t do it,” he said to a standing ovation. “And I will never, ever betray the public trust I respect and represent.”

I should stress that County Exec. Patterson received a standing ovation from those in attendance during that particular portion of his speech.

This isn’t something that you get when, according to RTA tax supporters, people overwhelming support your plan.

Pay us so that we can placate the mass transit snowflakes by driving around town empty.

This should (hopefully, anyway), have some affect here in Macomb, where Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel is also having some serious difficulty signing off on this.

And did I mention that the roads here in Southeastern Michigan look like the 107th used them for light target practice?

Fixing them takes money, too.

I’m not going to add anything more at this time due to the fact that my considerable folder on these con-artists just got a little bit bigger, and I’d like to keep my powder dry…just in case.

I will be adding more when this story unfolds.

Stay tuned.

You Betcha! (8)Nuh Uh.(0)

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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