162 search results for "gas tax"

2020 Presidential Election, All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Elections, Government Incompetence, Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Redistricting, Republicans

Making a deal with the devil.

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Buried in the headlines this week between yet another fake news story regarding the pending impeachment of Pres. Trump, fixing Gov Whitmer’s line item frenzy (contrary to the media buzz, there is serious talk behind the scenes pertaining to fixing Gov. Whitmer’s not-so little temper tantrum screw-up) and the comedy of errors with the GM-UAW Strike, this story from Lansing surprising got very little attention.

Which gets even more interesting once you are made aware of what the topic of discussion was all about.

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Economy, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

At What Cost?

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Spending more in one area of the economy comes at what price?

One of Governor Whitmer’s veto targets may have been a good thing.  In one way anyhow.

For all the wrong reasons, the governor popped the fuses on a number of causes that have had state support for years.  Charter schools ability to get on-par funding with their failing counterparts, health subsidies to regional hospitals, and busing for kids in remote regions closely associated with the house speaker’s election district.

All of these met the veto pen as leverage for her 45 cent a gallon gas tax.  Clearly, the governor has shown where her heart lays on particular issues. Using at-risk children and health providers as leverage to get her 45 cent tax on the working poor.

One particular veto however, has a silver lining.  The end of taxpayer dollars used for advertising a particular industry.

Under the guise of benefit to all, the tourism industry has enjoyed a 13 year subsidized existence with the Pure Michigan campaign. 

The state has run the Pure Michigan campaign since 2006, ultimately placing advertisements outside of Michigan in hopes of luring in tourists and their dollars. It has had some memorably creative moments, such as the ads narrated by Michigan actor Tim Allen and overlaid by the theme music from the movie “Cider House Rules.”

We all like the music, and know the voice.

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Michigan, Opinion

Whitmer’s Wrath

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Gretchen Whitmer wants it all, and now!

Negotiating is not this governor’s forte.

During the budget battle she admonished the legislature for not jumping on board with her 45 cent a gallon tax increase.  None of her party’s house or senate members even tried to make it happen.  She was all on her own.

But Gretchen wouldn’t allow the state to move forward without a budget, so she signed what was given her.  She signed it, using the veto pen in a way she may have thought would bring the legislature back to her.  Yet in actuality, she revealed her own apathy for certain segments of government largess.

And at the same time she did another curious thing.  She sent a message to our state workforce, suggesting that if anyone so much as speaks to our legislators, they might regret it.  By lining out protections for those employees within, who also want good government.  From West Michigan Politics:

State employees are no longer protected if they expose questionable activities to state legislators.
Here is what Whitmer removed:

“”The department shall not take disciplinary action against an employee for communicating with a member of the legislature or his or her staff.”

A Whitmer administration source says that language is somehow “unenforceable,” which simply doesn’t add up.

No, it does not.  Why veto the protections then?

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

And Then There Is This

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MiGOP reminder of Whitmer's absolutism.

I share the common distrust of the powers that be in Lansing to hold off on NEW gas taxes.

It seems that even the post directly preceding this has noted potential end-around solutions that will provide new income streams from taxpayer to bureaucrat for whatever purpose. We advise strongly against new enabling features that give local government more ways in which to screw us.

In the meantime we can at least enjoy the fact that the legislature did force Whitmer to show where her priorities are not, by witnessing the line item vetoes made. I agree with several of them, but frankly think at this point she owns any discontent from those sectors.

The next couple of years will be interesting.

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Government Incompetence, Michigan, Taxes

Healthy Roads

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Former State Senator touches on real reason for continuously expanding Michigan budget.

Pat Colbeck opines on the compromises being paved in Lansing.

“What didn’t get much notice a few years back is that within months of passing a $600 million gas tax hike to ostensibly fix the roads, the state quietly passed a budget “supplemental” bill which transferred $400 million in general funds from the transportation budget to backfill potholes in Medicaid Expansion (aka Healthy Michigan or Obamacare expansion).

You see, the gas tax increase was never truly about our roads. It was about leveraging what is a hot button issue to voters (i.e. the lousy condition of our roads) so that they could have more “walking around money” for other priorities aligned with so-called “special” interests. “

Backfill for healthy Michigan.

Apparently, Medicaid expansion in Michigan is on life support.  And now a great big gas tax is needed to move some more road monies into a transfusion bag.

Should we be at all surprised?

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Michigan

Will it Bring Back Michael Lee Smith?

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Sorry, dear, go wash your coochee.

Rebecca Smith, 44, who’s serving at least 25 years at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Pittsfield Township for a 2010 murder conviction, filed a class-action lawsuit this week against the Michigan Department of Corrections, along with other unnamed inmates.

As if Gretchen’s threat of a government shutdown if gas taxes aren’t raised in total to 89¢ per gallon is not enough… More bullshit for us taxpayers to navigate and pay for.

Here’s the part that pisses me off.

Berkley, Michigan, in December 2002 and the body of Michael Lee Smith was found dumped in a ditch, he’d been shot twice and was wearing just a t-shirt and his wedding ring.

Detectives soon worked out that he’d been killed elsewhere and some family members told police he may have boarded a bus and headed out of town.

However, eventually the evidence led much closer to home and to his wife 32-year-old Rebecca Maureen Smith, who was arrested for his murder. She was eventually found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.

Oh, please, please, please pick me as a jurist for the itchy scratchy class action lawsuit brought on by the murderer of her own husband.

I promise to remain impartial.

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Michigan, Philosophy

Sunday Sermon – Render Unto Caesar

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Who owns the vineyard.

Luke 20:1-24

One of the questions I get, as a pastor, is how I go about writing a sermon. For me, it begins with a review of the scriptures we have been given for the week. I think all of you know that we are a tradition that uses the common lectionary, which is a three year cycle of readings, that includes an Old Testament reading, a Psalm, a New Testament Reading and a Gospel reading. I start by searching for one of the readings that might have a relevant message within in it.

When I read through the Gospel lesson, however, which was only verses 9-20, I was a little confused because the parable by itself made no sense at all. So, I pulled out one of my bibles and began reading from the beginning of the chapter and continued on a few verses beyond the parable. This is what I just read to you, and when I had the context of the situation it made much more sense to me. It was then that I could see that Jesus was begging the question, “who owns the vineyard?”

The chief priests, the scribes and the elders knew they had been bested by this question so they plotted further to trip Jesus up. So they send spies who pose the question of taxes. I am going to actually begin with that question, because it offers us a little context of the day.

The Jews of Jesus’ day were vexed at living under a foreign, pagan government, whose rule was enforced by an army of occupation. The Jews paid a land tax, an income tax, a poll tax, an import tax, and a tax on grain, wine, and oil. We may think we are heavily taxed today, but things were far worse in first century Israel. Well that is unless, of course, our current governor gets her way.

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Democrats, Government Incompetence, Michigan Politics, Taxes

Gibsmedats and Shé Guevara

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Fellow Michiganians, we are doing it all wrong.

Whitmer unveiled her first budget proposal on Tuesday, March 5, and her proposals for a higher gas tax and a significant education funding increase got most of the attention.

But included in the spending plan was $15 million for a Flint reserve fund and $8.1 million in funding for existing programs addressing the Flint water crisis.

What surrounding communities need to do is mismanage their affairs and become totally irresponsible in their decision making as this is the new pathway to financial reward.

In this Friday, Oct. 26, 2018, photo, Gretchen Whitmer, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, cheers before a rally in Detroit. As the midterm election approaches, GOP leaders are bracing for the worst as Democrats appear poised to win the governor’s office and other statewide posts and to make gains in the Legislature. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Ps. Stamas, you’re still an incorrigible reprobate.

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Democrats, Fees, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Taxes

Gretchenomics: Welcome to the Granholm v2.0 era

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Well, that didn’t take long to cast sunlight upon the Progressive Left’s wealth redistribution scheme.

If approved by the Republican-controlled House and Senate, Whitmer’s proposed 45-cent motor fuel tax increase would occur in three separate 15 cent tax hikes on Oct. 1, 2019, April 1, 2020, and Oct. 1, 2020.

The first two tax hikes would increase the tax by 30 cents and bring in an additional $1.26 billion during the 2019-20 fiscal year. But documents submitted by Whitmer as part of her executive budget recommendation on Tuesday indicate that the net increase to transportation funding will be just $764 million in 2019-20 fiscal year.

In other words, $499.2 million — an estimated 40 percent of the $1.26 billion gas tax increase in 2020 — would not go to roads. Instead, it would replace current transportation budget dollars that would be redirected to pay for other state government spending.

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Yet, this obscene agenda has support?

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Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

So You Want To lower Insurance Costs?

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Is Michigan's Catastrophic Claims Mandate the problem?

Start with a sense of agreement that our GOP controlled legislature has with the new leader of the smurfs.

Insurance costs too much.  And since Lansing is already aglow in the possibility of adding more taxes on top of the 40% increase in plate fees and added gas taxes, we need a break right?

Who better to underwrite such ‘breaks’ than insurance carriers, right? Government always finds ways to shunt higher costs on to taxpayers OR those in an industry that they have manipulated for so many years.  So what is the message when we see this?

After Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s State of the State address on Tuesday, state Rep. Michele Hoitenga, R-Manton, said that insurance reform will be one of the GOP’s top priorities this session. Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, established a separate committee to devise a way past obstacles to bringing down rates.

In a tweet, Chatfield said citizens need a bipartisan solution.

“It’s time we cut through politics and deliver real reform to our rigged car insurance system,” Chatfield’s tweet says. “Families and seniors are paying too much, and they deserve relief. I’ve created a special committee to reform car insurance and have asked [Rep. Jason] Wentworth to chair it. Let’s get it done!”

We deserve relief.

Whew!  Glad we got that settled.  So let me make it real easy.

First start off with that part of the process that enjoys a failing google grade.  It adds $hundreds a year to each vehicle we own, and holds onto $20,000,000,000.00 of Michigan ratepayers money.  Yeah, that’s $20 Billion.

Its a tax.  Don’t forget that.

And actually.. just start and end with that and then watch for a while.

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