Do NOT let the tea party and Mackinac Center assume control
Fourth in a series on the ballot proposals on Michigan’s November 6, 2012 ballot. Read them all HERE.
Of all of the proposals on Michigan’s 2012 ballot, Prop 5 is probably the most insidious. Carefully cloaked in simple language, it appears benign. All they are asking for, say proponents, is a simple two-thirds majority vote in both the State House AND the State Senate on any tax increases. Seems pretty straightforward.
It’s not. If Prop 5 passes, it will ensure that Michigan never sees a revenue increase again. Period. No arguing here. Because, seriously, people, when did 2/3 of both chambers of the State Legislature EVER agree on anything? It means that this state will be stuck at the level of revenue it has now. And it’s worth reminding you that the Michigan Republicans just enacted a massive $2 billion a year tax break for corporations and businesses that is hamstringing our government, has reduced funding to our schools, and has raised taxes on middle class Michiganders and seniors.
When you look at who is promoting Prop 5 — tea party groups across the state, Americans for Prosperity, The Mackinac Center, etc. — it becomes quite obvious that this is just another attempt to impose their draconian “Government small enough to drown in a bathtub”, Grover Norquist vision of government.
What will likely happen is that anything that needs to happen to this state will have to be done by ballot referendum. This is what has happened in California and it has all but destroyed that state financially.
There’s one final point and perhaps the most compelling reason to vote against the hideous proposal: If it is passed, it will give well-funded Big Business lobbyists extreme power. How? Think about it. If you you need 2/3 of all lawmakers to pass the tax increase, a small group (1/3) now has all of the power. In Michigan, that’s a mere 13 Senators! Instead of convincing a majority — 50% plus 1 — to support them, now all they have to do is convince 1/3 of them to do so and their tax breaks and tax loopholes will be safe forever. All they have to do is to spread a little money around to the 1/3 they want on their side.
Do not let the short-sighted, anti-tax, pro-Big Business conservatives put the final nail in the coffin of our state government.
VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 5
