During Michigan’s economic “Lost Decade” of the 2000s, state government seemed to have just one response for crushing declines in income and employment that cost about 800,000 residents their jobs between 2000 and 2010: more corporate welfare.
If there was any evidence this approach works to turn around an ailing economy — there is not — it still could not have overcome the massive Michigan business and income tax increases imposed in 2007, and smaller exactions, such as a 2004 property tax hike.
A package of bills that would establish statewide, uniform regulations and an open market for transportation companies has been introduced in the Michigan Legislature. Importantly, it would also restrict local governments’ ability to manipulate this market.
Young entrepreneurs tried their hands at business this weekend at the inaugural Detroit Children’s Business Fair.
The event, co-hosted by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and Junior Achievement of Southeastern Michigan, challenged children ages 6 through 14 to create a business and set up shop at the marketplace that took place Saturday in downtown Detroit. Approximately 30 children from 11 businesses sold products and services ranging from marshmallow guns, to coffee, to stress balls.
Detroit’s comeback has been promised for decades, but recovery has yet to fully materialize.
Mackinac Center Policy Analyst Jarrett Skorup tackled the topic in an op-ed for The Detroit News, in which he highlighted some of the development projects that were each billed as the thing that would bring Detroit back. Be it the 1977 opening of the Renaissance Center, the 1985 People Mover, or the 2013 arena deal for the Detroit Red Wings, none of the developments have fully delivered on the promised hype.
Parents, lawmakers, media and education officials may now easily find the latest compensation information for the leader of Michigan school districts, thanks to an updated database maintained by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
In September, the Center announced it had updated its superintendent compensation database, which also includes the contracts under which superintendents work. Ben DeGrow, director of education policy for the Center, said information empowers parents and decision makers to make the best choices possible.
Michigan lawmakers are proud of their fiscal prudence for putting an extra $1 billion into the school employee pension fund. But the extra state payments have been insufficient to pay even the interest on the debt, let alone catch up on the $26.7 billion of unfunded liabilities in the system.
The clerk of Lincoln Township, Michigan — a small township near the tip of the Thumb — publicly criticized a citizen for filing a Freedom of Information Act request. The Huron Daily Tribune reports:
Clerk Irvin Kanaski also called upon township residents at Monday night’s meeting to chide Arlene Schipinski for seeking the information surrounding a $1,100 private donation to the township’s legal fund.
One mid-Michigan charter school striving not to be defined by its past has begun to see the payoff for changing its attitude and approach.
While the state of Michigan still officially recognizes the Saginaw Preparatory Academy as a low-achievement “Priority school,” more of its students are demonstrating the reading and writing skills they need to advance.
Editor's note: A version of this article entitled "Detroit standing in way of own recovery" first ran in the Detroit News on Oct. 14, 2016.
Detroit emerged from bankruptcy in 2014 and it didn’t take long for the hype to begin. A quick search produces a multitude of state and local governments and news sites promoting “Detroit’s Comeback.” But this is nothing new: For decades, city and state officials and local leaders have projected revitalization in Motown.
By Jack McHugh
The Legislature did not meet this week, so the Roll Call Report continues its review of key votes from the 2015-2016 session.
Senate Bill 616, Exempt developers of “Pyramid” building from sales tax: Passed 21 to 15 in the Senate on December 3, 2015
To exempt business equipment purchases made by an internet data center from the state sales tax. The bill originally applied only to the developers of proposed data center in the vacant “Pyramid” building near Grand Rapids, but was expanded to all companies in this particular business.
After a slowdown in the past few years, crony capitalism — whereby politicians give special favors to politically connected businesses — is on the move in Michigan.
The state racked up nearly $10 billion in liabilities during the tenure of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, with the backing of Republican legislators. The state will be paying the cost of these favors for decades. It already consumes more than $1 billion of the current state budget.
Thousands of Michiganders who went to the ER in 2011 after preventable dental issues escalated could receive better care if the state were to allow new mid-level providers to perform routine dental care to underserved populations.
That’s according to a new report published jointly by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Of Michigan’s 83 counties, 76 of them have at least one area where there are not enough dentists. Michael Van Beek, director of research at the Center and co-author of the study, explained the importance of addressing the shortage.
A bill moving its way through the Michigan Legislature would give workers the chance to say “no thanks” to union representation and unions the ability to say “goodbye” to nonmembers.
Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Midland, recently introduced a bill to allow Worker’s Choice in Michigan, which would be the first state to offer this freedom to unions and employees. Mackinac Center’s Director of Labor Policy F. Vincent Vernuccio, who originally developed the reform, explained how it would work in an op-ed published by the Washington Examiner:
By Jack McHugh
The Legislature did not meet this week, so the Roll Call Report continues its review of key votes from the 2015-2016 session.
House Bill 4615, Raise gas tax a lot: Passed 19 to 19 in the Senate on July 1, 2015 (Lieutenant Governor broke tie)
To increase the state gasoline and diesel fuel tax to 34 cents per gallon, an increase of 15 cents and 19 cents, respectively. This would have given Michigan the second highest gas tax in the nation. The House voted to send this to a conference committee, and a smaller gas tax hike plus a vehicle registration tax hike was ultimately adopted.
A recent email sums up the public’s concept of the electricity choice debate quite well.
I have never understood anything about the “choice” question on electricity. What choice? I have lived in Michigan since 1996 and paid my electricity bill every month for the past 20 years. I’ve never had “choice.” I get a bill and it’s always Consumers Energy. I get that other people get Detroit Edison. But you don’t get a “choice.”
In the pages of its MEA Voice publication the Michigan Education Association opposes efforts to put retirement income security back in the hands of its members. The union instead wants to keep educators in the state-controlled defined benefit pension plan that has accumulated $26.7 billion in unfunded liabilities. The union ought to reconsider; the current system is unfair to its members and taxpayers alike.
By Kahryn Riley
Michigan’s major cities — which have been among the most violent in the nation in recent years — saw a major drop in crime last year. Generally speaking, it is the safest time in decades to live in Michigan.
The FBI recently released the 2015 edition of its annual report, “Crime in the United States.” The report is a compilation of data that law enforcement agencies around the country voluntarily submit to FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR).
At an event sponsored by the West Michigan Policy Forum, Nick Ciaramitaro of Michigan AFSCME Council 25 criticized defined contribution retirement plans. They are, he argued, more expensive than defined benefit plans for the same benefit, creating a “lose-lose situation.” He is wrong — letting employees control their own retirement accounts would lower costs and give them control over their own retirement.
By Jack McHugh
The Legislature did not meet this week, so the Roll Call Report continues its review of key votes from the 2015-2016 session.
House Bill 4122, Repeal film producer subsidies: Passed 58 to 51 in the House on March 11, 2015
To repeal the program that gives Michigan tax dollars to film producers. Since 2008 some $500 million was distributed to producers by the state.
A number of sources attribute jokes about government programs being the closest thing to immortality to President Ronald Reagan. At least one source traces the humor back to a United States senator in 1933. That is an apt starting point because it was in that year President Franklin Roosevelt took office and worked to create — among other relief programs — the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Pension costs are forcing tough choices on Michigan’s school districts. Their problems are caused almost entirely by state policies, so the solution must come from the state.
In Michigan, school districts have little to say about the retirement benefits offered to their employees; all the key decisions are set by state policy. The state requires districts to use its retirement system, sets its benefits, and decides what the funding assumptions and policies will be. To pay for pension benefits, the state assesses districts a percentage of their payroll. A district sends 36.31 percent of its payroll to the school pension system, while the employees, as a group, must put 4.69 percent of their paychecks in the system.
Recent debates about whether persistently underperforming Detroit schools should be exempted from state closure laws prompted the Excellent Schools Detroit coalition to share some observations behind their gloomy outlook. People of good will want much better opportunities and outcomes for Detroit students, even as the path to that destination appears steep and foreboding.
This morning the Washington D.C.-based Tax Foundation released its 2017 State Business Tax Climate Index. The index ranks the structure of a state’s tax system, not the actual financial burden it imposes.
Michigan’s position is unchanged from last year at No. 12. This is up from 2010 when the state was ranked 17th, according to Joseph Henchman, an economist with the foundation. Michigan’s ranking improved after it eliminated the hated Michigan Business Tax and related surcharge in favor of a more transparent Corporate Income Tax.
Michigan’s counties are drowning in pension debt and it’s time for their leaders to act to prevent future cuts to services or major tax hikes to residents.
Josh Paladino, a Mackinac Center summer research intern, wrote about the ballooning unfunded pension liabilities municipalities are facing in a recent op-ed published by the Lansing State Journal.
Michigan’s 21st Century Jobs Fund program is fatally flawed and lawmakers ought to put it out of its misery, one Mackinac Center analyst argued in a recent op-ed published in The Detroit News.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm promised the program would blow the state away, but 10 years later, taxpayers have little to show for the hundreds of millions of dollars reallocated through the jobs fund. Aside from the fund’s lack of transparency, questionable reporting practices and possible constitutional issues, Mackinac Center’s Assistant Director of Fiscal Policy argues the entire premise of the corporate welfare program is flawed.
