By Rich Robinson/Michigan Campaign Finance Network ProPublica (“How nonprofits spend millions on elections and call it public welfare“) recently detailed how the federal tax code is exploited to conceal the identities of the biggest spenders in Campaign 2012. Today’s political social welfare organizations exist mostly to drive election outcomes. That is an uneasy fit with […]
IRS
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Politicians get big favor with IRS-backed spending accounts
By Steve Harry What are 527 accounts and why should the voters of Michigan care? I’ve been all worked up about Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero’s 527 account since September 2009, when I read an article in the Lansing State Journal by Derek Melot. I looked up the contribution and expenditure detail on the IRS website, […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan lost more people in 2009-10 than once thought
Larry Rosen of Public Policy Associates in Lansing recently utilized data from the Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey to analyze residential patterns for Michigan in- and out-migrants between 2009 and 2010. This analysis has drawn significant media coverage. Sometimes, though, the data can lead you astray. The conclusion that “The data indicate a continuing […]