You know that gigantic, $1.5 billion dollar tax cut Republicans gave Michigan businesses this year? I’ve been ranting and raving all year about how it was paid for in part by cutting a cool billion out of education. But there’s still half a billion that came from other places. One of the big cuts was to eliminate the tax exemption Michiganders can currently receive by making a charitable contribution.
The Michigan charitable giving tax credit expires at the end of the year, and charities are expecting the amount people donate to charities to drop as a result.The charitable giving credit was ended as part of Governor Snyder’s effort to pay for a business tax cut of more than $1.5 billion.
The credit allows Michigan taxpayers to essentially double their contribution when they give to community foundations, homeless shelters, food banks and public institutions (such as Michigan universities, museums, public libraries, and public broadcasting stations).
For a single filer, half their contribution can come off their Michigan tax bill up to a $200 contribution. Joint filers can take half of a $400 contribution.
Republicans are fond of saying that the cuts being made to services for the needy will have to be compensated for by an uptick in the amount of services provided by charities. Then they turn around and hamstring these same charities by making it harder for them to raise funds.
This, in a nutshell, tells you much of what you need to know about how Republicans think. It’s a fairy land, in many respects. A land where the predictable consequences of one’s actions can be ignored as long as it fits inside a tidy little worldview where everything is fine; where you can cut back on services and put a stranglehold on the charities that might be able to alleviate some of the suffering and still expect that people won’t go hungry or homeless.
Oh and, by the way, those folks getting tossed off welfare due to the new four year lifetime cap on benefits find out this week if they will no longer receive assistance. Just in time for the holidays. A Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa present from the Michigan Republican Party.
