115 search results for "sales tax"

Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1

You know the MIGOP is in trouble when it’s already trying to reflect the blame for the May 5th Tax Proposal blowback

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Goat-1

Scapegoat

(n.) A scapegoat is an event person or object that is used to lay the blame on for all that goes wrong, regardless of the contributions of others. This will usually carry on until the scapegoat has gone, or has managed to successfully defend itself against the arguments presented to it.

In the MIGOP the scapegoating is a never ending process, done to protect and deflect criticism of the new Sacred Cow of continued government expansion under Governor Rick Snyder.

Scapegoat-03-10-13-400x400
Linda Lee lost as an incumbent, partially due to her out of context ramblings prior to the election concerning RNC Committeeman Dave Agema. (Some claim her bloviating during the BS organized  “Listening (to Linda) Tour” also cost her votes, but the events were so poorly attended I doubt the veracity of that claim). She and others need to take their own advice, and stop the Divisiveness. Her double standards are glaringly obvious, as illustrated by screenshots of a series of Posts she herself has allowed to remain on her page for almost a month now.  If Linda were not black, the posts could easily be called racist,  apparently they are just bitter grapes, a failure to accept election results, Ironic for someone employed as Director of Community Affairs & Election Integrity Liaison, allowed by a sore Loser.

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Conservative News, Democrats, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Proposal 15-1, Taxes

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

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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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2015 MIGOP State Convention, Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Opinion, Proposal 15-1, Taxes

Why is Prop 15-1 a $2 Billion Dollar Tax Hike?

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I don’t have time to mince words today so, I’ll let the headline speak for itself.

Media Muddles Magnitude of May Tax Hike Vote

Speaking of muddlers, it’s the parasite from Monroe, who wouldn’t go away.

allah Shazam! Yes, here’s how they voted on SB 509 and SB 1149 (Take note of names alleged Taxed Enough Already folks). More background here. Furthermore, good riddance to an Engler era affirmative action toady. Downside is Meekhof replaced that with a Richardville toady.

That said, Governor Spanky presented his $54 Billion dollar budget yesterday.

Ps. with respect to the MCC article above, well, Jim Stamas is a documented a**hole.

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Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Taxes

Another Glitch in the ‘Road’ Tax Package

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Legislative Craftsmanship at its Finest

Crying CEO or managerA week ago we found out that the new road tax package vehicle registration fee system would end its Federal tax deductibility.  Now Gongwer News Service is reporting another glitch, this time in the gasoline sales tax provisions of the road tax package:

Fix Planned to Correct Sales Tax Problem in Roads Plan

The administration of Governor Rick Snyder will seek legislation to correct a potential problem in the road funding plan that as written would lift the sales tax off of gasoline only for motor vehicles, but not for boats, snowmobiles and other non-road purposes like generators and gasoline-powered equipment.

As currently constructed, that would create a mess for retailers who theoretically would have to determine whether or not to charge the sales tax and even ask customers filling up a gasoline can what the intended use of the purchase is. The Citizens Research Council of Michigan, as part of a broad analysis it is conducting on the road funding plan, noted the quirk and provided the information to Gongwer News Service.

It will be interesting to see how Governor Snyder fixes this.  Purchasing gasoline for your boat or ORV could become a really entertaining bureaucratic exercise. Ready for the ‘Gasoline Police’? Think of the new forms to be filled out.

CRCoM is a collection of the usual corporate interests orbiting Michigan government. Not certain why they would have ratted out this bungle to Gongwer, but it does suggest a certain degree of unease among the establishment.

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Proposal 15-1, Republicans

Hey, who wants to pay a higher gas tax?

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“It’s a first step. It’s a big step – don’t get me wrong. In a bipartisan way, the Michigan Senate was ready to say, `We want to fix roads and we’ll take tough votes to do it,”‘ said Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, a Monroe Republican.

“What I would say is the House action doesn’t get us there fast enough or far enough. It also creates major consequences to schools and local partners — that I don’t want to see negative things happen to them,” said Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

And these guys are “republicans”?

So, who’s thirsty?

{Not to fear, more below the fold}

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All the Other Stuff, Cronyism, Republicans

NOTICE – Tax Increases Imminent – Update – Cancelled (for now)

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Please bend over.
COMMITTEE:           Senate Appropriations Committee – Senator Roger Kahn Chair
DATE:                        Tuesday, May 20th, 2014
TIME:                         9:30 a.m.
LOCATION:              Senate Appropriations Room, 3rd Floor, Capitol Building
                                    100 S. Capitol Avenue, Lansing, MI  48933
 
AGENDA
Re-Referral of Bills:
·         SB 6 (Sen. Proos) Sales tax; distribution; percentage of sales tax collected on motor fuel to be earmarked to transportation funding in 2013 and each year thereafter; establish.
·         SB 84 (Sen. Casperson) Natural resources; funding; recreation improvement account; authorize to receive portion of 2% sales tax dedicated to transportation.
·         SB 85 (Sen. Pappageorge) Transportation; motor fuel tax; motor fuel tax act; repeal.
·         SB 86 (Sen. Pappageorge) Vehicles; registration; registration fees; modify.
·         SB 87 (Sen. Kahn) Transportation; motor fuel tax; motor fuel tax; modify, and implement tax rate based on the average wholesale price of gasoline.
·         SB 88 (Sen. Kahn) Vehicles; registration; registration fees; modify.
·         SJR J (Sen. Richardville) Sales tax; rate; increase in sales tax and use tax; provide for, and revise distribution.
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Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy

So, What Do We Do Now?

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We’ve been here before – recently – how we respond will make a difference.

Since Christmas 2016, I’ve posted a grand total of three opinion pieces on this site, which is a very far cry from my usual pace; blame the weird hours of my current work schedule. The interesting thing about working “dawn patrol” is that I get to spend a great deal of time paying attention to my newsfeed. Many credible political pundits, whom I follow on that newsfeed, are referring to last week’s elections outcome as a “split decision” on a national scale. Fair enough. But here in the “Great Lake Effect State” (lots of snow on the ground last weekend), we’re armpit deep in something that isn’t snow.

The Michigan Republican Party seems to be the structurally weakest it’s been since the immediate aftermath of the Milliken Administration (circa 1983), a “rule of empathy” majority now holds the state’s Supreme Court, and an underinformed electorate has just enshrined systemic election fraud into the state’s constitution. Oh, and just in case it matters, the Libertarian Party of Michigan promptly lost their brand-new “major party” status, due to election underperformance. As with the other time something similar happened this century, the key question ought not so much be, “What happened?” as it ought to be, “What are we going to do about it?” . . . because that second question is the one that we must answer if we’re going to accomplish anything constructive going forward.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

Michigan AG: Comparing Leonard and Schuitmaker

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The race for the Republican nomination for Attorney General will be decided at the Michigan Republican Convention on August 25 in Lansing.  Two candidates are competing for the nomination.  Tom Leonard was a prosecutor who was elected to the Michigan state house in 2012 and became speaker in 2016.  Tonya Schuitmaker is a lawyer, state representative (2004-2010) and state senator (2010-2018).

Republican delegates who want to nominate the right person need to know the records of the two candidates.  Both have voting records, which can be researched at MichiganVotes.org.  The following summarizes their records on issues of importance to conservatives.

Gas Tax Increase  Both Leonard and Tonya opposed Proposal 1, which would have increased taxes by 2 billion dollars to pay for roads and other transportation projects.  Leonard and Tonya both supported a smaller gas tax increase for roads.

Amazon Tax  Leonard opposed the ‘Amazon Tax’ to force consumers to pay sales tax on out-of-state internet purchases.  Tonya supported this tax increase.

Income Tax Cut  Leonard supported and led an effort to cut the state income tax, which narrowly failed in the state house.  The state senate did not vote on the bill.

Medicaid Expansion  Both Leonard and Tonya opposed Medicaid expansion, which was part of the implementation of Obamacare.

Pension Reform  Both Leonard and Tonya supported reforming school employee pensions.  Leonard led the effort to make sure that the bill passed.

Business Subsidies  The Mackinac Center recently released an index to rate how often a legislator has voted to support taxpayer supported business subsidies.  Leonard supported 70.1% of subsidies, while Tonya supported 76.9% of subsidies.

Hollywood Subsidies  Both Leonard and Tonya voted to end subsidies for Hollywood movie studios.

FoxConn Subsidies  Leonard opposed subsidies for FoxConn, a Taiwanese company.  Tonya supported the subsidies.

Electric Choice  Leonard and Tonya both voted for a bill to impose more regulation on electricity generation and limit choice of electricity providers.

Auto Insurance  Leonard supported a bill to reform auto insurance to provide more choices and reduce rates.  The bill failed in the state house and was not taken up in the state senate.

Speed Limits  Both Leonard and Tonya voted for a small increase in freeway speed limits.

Common Core  Leonard opposed the implementation of Common Core education standards.  The state senate passed Common Core with an (unrecorded) voice vote, but Tonya indicated her support for Common Core.  Neither chamber has voted on Common Core repeal legislation this session.

Constitutional Carry  Leonard voted for constitutional carry, and made sure the bill was voted on as speaker.  The state senate has not taken up the bill.

Official English  Leonard supported making English the official language of Michigan.  Tonya was one of only two Republicans to oppose official English in 2006.

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Michigan Politics

SB 97 & All The Rest

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Lots of stuff to discuss. Hope you all have the patience and time to digest it all.

Interesting perspective on Proposed Senate Bill 97 in your forward. My analysis is it is typical “fear mongering”. See discussion below.

Enclosed for your convenience is a copy of House Fiscal Legislative Analysis pertaining to Senate Bill 97. Permit me to comment on the Bill and ancillary issues pertaining to Public Private Partnerships (PPP’s) and infrastructure investment.

Senate Bill 97
The Bill authorizes the State and its various agencies to participate in Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a means to acquire private investment and management participation in state infrastructure projects. The objective of PPP’s is to facilitate private investment in infrastructure upgrades and repairs as a substitute for using taxation and state financed bonds as the sole remedy to pay for infrastructure needs. For example: The legislature raised the state taxes on fuels to pay for highway maintenance, construction and repairs, or alternatively, it could issue bonds secured by the State to be repaid with revenue either from the project (AKA TOLLS or USER FEES,) or increase taxes on the proletariat! Gas taxes or sales taxes.

As the Analysis confirms many states (other than Michigan) have now passed legislation authorizing their respective state agencies to enter into PPP’s as a basis to fund various transportation and other infrastructure needs (water and sewage). In the past I have referenced these projects as an alternative means to fund transportation and infrastructure needs in various letters to the media and others with copies to our relevant representatives.These copies are numbered and itemized below to refresh your memories. Several of the letters contain similar allegations and claims. My apologies for any redundancy. It is apparent the letters were of little interest to the recipients. So be it! It hasn’t been the first time. But, I digress.   Mea Culpa!

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