It’s a well-worn technique used over and over and over again by Michigan Republicans: send up a trial balloon of something outrageous that even folks from their own party ask “What the hell???” Then, they come back with something slightly less outrageous but still truly outrageous hoping we’ll all fall for the head fake. I call this the “fake concession” and I’ve written about it before (many times, actually.)
Well, they’re at it again. As I reported last week, Michigan Republicans were proposing a complete elimination of the state income tax. Given the dire straits we’re in here in Michigan, particularly after billions of dollars in tax giveaways to corporations, the idea is patently absurd. So absurd, in fact, that even Gov. Snyder is against it.
Yesterday, Republicans backed away from this destructive plan and are now backing an equally destructive plan to roll back the state income tax from 4.25% to 3.9% over four years. It does the same thing as the original plan: it takes $1.1 BILLION in revenue out of our annual budget, a move that will decimate services, higher education, and a host of other things that Michiganders value:
Under pressure from Democrats and Republicans including Gov. Rick Snyder, a proposal to gradually eliminate the state’s 4.25% income tax was scrapped Tuesday for a plan that would cut the tax to 3.9% over four years and leave it at that level. […]
The new version of the bill would reduce the income tax, beginning on Jan. 1, 2018, by 0.1% each year for the next three year and by 0.05% in the fourth year to get to 3.9%. The lost revenue in the first year, which comes three months into the fiscal year, would be $195 million; in the second year, it would be $463 million; in the third year, it would be $780 million, and by the fourth year, $1.1 billion.
Republicans claim it will “spur the economy”. But the reality is that a state decimated by poor funding of schools, infrastructure, and higher education is not going to be attractive to businesses no matter HOW low taxes are. One university president, University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel, who testified against this idiotic move said the move isn’t “conservatism. It’s radicalism.”
Don’t let them do it and don’t be distracted by the clown show happening in Washington, D.C. We have real problems right here in River City Michigan that need your activism. Call your state legislators and be heard. Tell them to vote NO on H.B. 4001.
