When Republicans in Congress passed the Trump Tax Scam, one of the things they did was to raise taxes on citizens at the state level. In Michigan, that increase in taxes amounts to $1.5 BILLION, something even Republicans have been forced to admit.
Democrats, who have been trying to enact an increase in the personal tax exemption for years, today were forced to join gleeful Republicans in passing legislation that would increase the personal exemption to $5,000 by 2021.
Just another example of good old fashioned bipartisanship, eh?
Not quite.
Republicans are painting it as more Republican tax cuts. “It has been no secret that my main priority is to fight for tax relief for Michigan families,” Republican Sen. Jack Brandenburg told the Detroit Free Press. “Congress passed big and bold tax relief and it’s time we do the same for families in Michigan.”
What Congress did was to pass a bill that forced states to cut taxes if they wanted their citizens to not have to pay MORE in taxes overall. In other words, yeah, Michigan Republicans passed a bill that in any other year would be a tax cut but, thanks the Trump Tax Scam, all it does is make sure our taxes don’t go UP. There is no “cut”.
Lonnie Scott, Executive Director at Progress Michigan had some choice words:
Michigan Republicans lied about what the federal tax bill would do for Michigan and now they’re lying claiming the fix is a tax-break, when really all it does is allow hardworking Michiganders to break even. Democrats have introduced legislation like this for the last eight years to address the imbalance in our tax system created by total Republican control and the GOP failed to act, opting instead to give tax handouts to corporations and their wealthy donors. It wasn’t until elected officials like Congressmen Mike Bishop, Fred Upton, and Tim Walberg voted to make Michigan taxpayers pay another billion dollars in taxes, by supporting the federal GOP tax scam that their counterparts here in Michigan decided to act. This isn’t a tax break – it’s a Republican cover your ass scheme in an election year.
It’s a pretty classic Republican maneuver to do “big and bold” things at one level that folks at lower levels like the state or local municipalities or school districts have to pay for. But for them to portray this as a tax cut for Michigan taxpayers is hypocrisy to the extreme.
If Michigan Republicans weren’t shameless, I’d say they should be ashamed.
