Prison spending should be among Gov. Rick Snyder’s chief priorities in his attempt to correct Michigan’s overspending crisis, according to this Op-Ed by Fiscal Policy Director Mike LaFaive in the Shelby Township Source.
Eliminating the Michigan Business Tax will be a positive step for Michigan, a Mackinac Center researcher told the Detroit Free Press.
“It’s going to send a message to businesses that Michigan is conducive to growth,” James Hohman, fiscal policy analyst, said. “Lowering taxes promotes growth.”
An Op-Ed in the Belleville News Democrat co-written by Fiscal Policy Director Mike LaFaive shows that cigarette smuggling in Illinois will increase if a proposed hike in tobacco taxes there is approved.
The information is based on this research by LaFaive and other Mackinac Center analysts.
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report on interesting votes and bills in the Michigan Legislature, and includes how each legislator voted. To find out who your state senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state representatives go here.
An editorial in today’s Detroit News focuses on a wetland dispute that Mackinac Center analysts have been examining for several years.
The Center recently filed an amicus brief in the case of a Grand Rapids-area business man who was charged with violating state law for filling in a soggy area of his property to expand a parking lot in order to accommodate hiring more employees. More information on the issue is available here.
One of Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed budget cuts is to repeal a welfare benefit called the “Earned Income Tax Credit.” Currently, the program redistributes around $340 million annually from Michigan taxpayers to low-income workers.
Michigan did not offer this form of welfare until 2008, and today is one of just 20 states* that do. Only five states offer a benefit more generous than Michigan’s.
WLNS is reporting that UAW President Bob King sees an opportunity for his union to roll back concessions, based on gains that GM, Ford and Chrysler will make in the auto market. Japanese automobile production was severely cut back because of damage from the March earthquake, a massive tsunami and the strain on Japan's electric grid from the failure of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Communications Specialist Kathy Hoekstra was the guest host on “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR 760AM Monday, where she interviewed Congressman Justin Amash, former Congressman Pete Hoekstra, media entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart, Detroit News cartoonist and columnist Henry Payne and Dr. Christine Beardsley, superintendent of Oscoda Area Schools, whose district has developed an innovative teacher evaluation and merit pay system.
New Hampshire is on the verge of becoming the 23rd right-to-work state, after House Bill 474 there cleared the House by a solid 225-140 margin. The bill, which would ensure that individual workers have the right to join or refuse to join a union and have the final say on union dues, had already passed the state Senate. Democratic Governor John Lynch is expected to veto the bill, but a veto override is possible. The main challenge will be to find 14 more yeas in the House, and the bill's sponsors hope to find those votes among 31 elected representatives who missed last week's vote.
When will Michigan leaders learn that federal money is expensive and always comes with strings attached? Gov. Rick Scott of Florida wisely told the Obama administration it could keep the rail funds, following suit with the governors of Ohio and Wisconsin who have turned down federal funds to build such projects. No such luck in Michigan. Gov. Rick Snyder, who seems eager to burnish his green credentials, held out his hand to accept federal stimulus dollars turned back by Florida.
Gov. Rick Snyder's proposed Michigan budget would make substantial changes to the levels of funding for K-12 education in addition to major changes to how businesses are taxed — careful changes that consider where Michigan stands compared to the rest of the country. But opponents deride the changes as hurting schools to help businesses. While that makes a nice talking point, a deeper look shows the budget proposal helping the afflicted at the expense of the protected.
Paying retiree health care bills as they come due, rather than focusing on the solvency of the fund, is risky, a Mackinac Center analyst told the Lansing State Journal.
“They are paying their (health care) bills a they come due, but it’s risky,” Fiscal Policy Analyst James Hohman said. “These bills are going to go up. Who knows what’s going to happen with health costs.”
The vast majority of elected officials in Michigan are “political careerists.” In its purest form, this is defined as someone with the ambition of using politics to escape the hard accountability of a “real job” in the private sector for the rest of his or her working life. Instead, they seek to live comfortably, feel important and enjoy social advantages by progressing from one elected or appointed government position to another, ideally retiring early with a nice taxpayer-funded pension.
Mackinac Center Communications Specialist Kathy Hoekstra will guest-host “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR 760AM on Monday, May 9. The show can be heard live from
“I’ve long been a fan of Frank Beckmann and his show, so it is a real honor to fill in for him,” Hoekstra said. “He secures top-notch guests, and his listeners know they have to tune in to stay up to date on the latest news in Michigan and across the country.”
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report on interesting votes and bills in the Michigan Legislature, and includes how each legislator voted. To find out who your state senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state representatives go here.
Recent actions of the Michigan Legislature show a stark contrast between real regulatory reform and silly legislation. On the one hand the Senate passed Senate Bill 272, which contains meaningful regulatory reform along with teeth to enforce the provisions. SB 272 mandates several important changes to the environmental regulatory process in the state including the following provisions:
Writing in the Detroit Free Press, three advocates of selective government tax credits give Gov. Rick Snyder credit for streamlining state government, but believe his administration has “missed the mark” by working to eliminate the brownfield and historic tax credit programs.
Yesterday, a commentary by me in Michigan Capital Confidential described how in both the state House and Senate, some Republican legislators, including ones endorsed by the MEA school employees union, are trying to shield the union-dominated public school establishment from spending cuts recommended by Gov. Rick Snyder.
The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund is funded from oil and gas royalties that have provided millions of dollars the state has used to purchase large tracts of lands. Those purchases have provided untold outdoor recreation opportunities for residents and visitors. A significant downside, however, is that public ownership effectively takes these lands off tax rolls. Traditionally, the state reimburses local units of government for the lost revenue using general fund money, even though Article IX of the state Constitution allows interest and earnings of the Natural Resource Trust Fund to be used to for these “payments in lieu of taxes” to local government.
A $21.5 million port development along the Detroit River that officials expect will draw cruise ships and other tourists is a misguided use of tax dollars, according to a Mackinac Center analyst.
"On net balance, these kinds of investments are little more than expensive ribbon-cutting ceremonies," Mike LaFaive, director of the Mackinac Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, told the Detroit Free Press. "If this was a valuable addition to Detroit's waterfront, entrepreneurs would fall over themselves to fund it."
Over on the Buckeye Institute's blog, Matt Mayer argues that the failure of former Govs. Ted Strickland (of Ohio) and our own Jennifer Granholm to attract jobs to their states bolsters the case for right-to-work laws.
Mayer pointed to an article in Sunday's Columbus Dispatch about the pointlessness of so many state government led economic development programs, which seek to "poach" companies and jobs from neighboring states. Mayer argues that the failure of all this gamesmanship — and Granholm was a pretty big player — only highlights the need for more fundamental reforms, such as state right-to-work laws that make union membership and financial support voluntary.
Just like the market for any other good or service, labor markets are governed by the invariable laws of supply and demand. When the quantity of a good or service increases, prices tend to go down, and when supplies grow tight, prices tend to rise. In light of this reality, it’s worth considering the following report on the quantity of qualified teachers in
Imagine you have made a deal to buy a used car and at the last minute the dealer says, “Of course, if you want a motor that will cost extra.”
That's essentially what local politicians do when they place local police and fire “enhancement” millages on the ballot. These public safety services are not some added extra provided by municipal governments, but rather the core services the public demands from them.
School boards around the state are voicing opposition to Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposal to use “School Aid Fund” revenue to fund community college and higher education budgets. Some Democrats want to amend the Michigan Constitution to prevent this so-called “fund raid,” and the Republican-controlled Senate has passed budgets that use less SAF money for colleges and universities than the governor proposes.
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report on interesting votes and bills in the Michigan Legislature, and includes how each legislator voted. To find out who your state senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state representatives go here.
