DOING GOOD WORK: House Speaker Jase Bolger applauds a colleague in the Michigan House. The Republican from Marshall argues that the GOP majorities in the Legislature have been making tough decisions that will result in a better future for Michigan. (courtesy photo/Mlive.com) Why won’t politicians tackle tough issues? Why won’t the Legislature look long-term? […]
taxes
Posted inBusiness Watch
State government ‘spends’ $30 billion more this year than you think
(courtesy image/used under Creative Commons license) Officially, Michigan’s state government is spending $48.2 billion this year on education, health care, prisons, transportation and all other spending programs. But the state actually is shelling out $78.9 billion — 64 percent more than the spending allocated through the state budget. It’s happening through something called “tax expenditures”—tax […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan good at making tax deals, but results of them aren’t clear
DETAILS NOT INCLUDED: While Michigan is good at tracking the overall amount of tax-break deals, say researchers, it’s not so great in showing whether the deals accomplished their stated goals. (courtesy image/used under Creative Commons license) Michigan gets high marks from some experts on how it reports its billions of dollars in tax breaks to […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: State's broken tax system favors corporations over families
By Gilda Z. Jacobs/Michigan League for Public Policy As we enter the budget-setting season in Lansing, we need to step back and ask ourselves some important questions. Does our revenue structure keep up with the times? Does it improve our education levels and at least keep our quality of life from eroding? Does it ‘pay […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Prop 5 advocates say taxes are high, but figures show Michigan in the middle
It is an article of faith among small government advocates that Michigan residents are overtaxed, especially in relation to other states. That might have been true in 1985, when Michigan ranked seventh in the nation with a state and local tax burden of 10.4 percent, compared to a national average of 9.7 percent. The data […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Change tax code to feed starving Michigan cities
By Dayne Walling/Flint mayor In Michigan, cities were the greatest victims of the recent near failure of the economy and the housing market. Michigan is not seeing the same renaissance of returning to the city at a significant rate equal to the national trend. The problem is that all of the cuts to government here […]
Posted inChildren & Families
$400 prom dress, in shades of gray
The headlines practically write themselves. “Taxpayers on the hook for $400 prom dress.” “$2,000 cheerleading camp on the state tab.” Scrape away the easy sensationalism, and the story is more complex. The Michigan Department of Human Services paid almost $400 for a prom dress for a foster care teen — one of several eye-popping expenditures noted […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Billion-dollar bust?
(Originally published Aug. 10, 2011) A 15-year-long effort to spur jobs and vitality in some of the state’s most economically depressed areas by turning them into virtual tax-free zones — and thereby forgoing about $1 billion in tax collections — is being curtailed by Gov. Rick Snyder. Citing disappointing results in Renaissance Zones, the Snyder […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Income is small share of business taxes
Emerging from a long debate over the second major revision of the state’s business income tax in a decade, Michigan residents, and maybe some policy-makers, may be surprised by the results of the Council on State Taxation’s annual report on business taxes. Gov. Rick Snyder and allies in the Legislature and business community argued consistently […]
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