Kicking cities while they’re down

Michigan Republicans passed a budget last year that gives businesses $1.6 billion dollars in tax breaks, paid for by slashing school funding and raising taxes on over half of Michiganders. Now, they are about to hand them another half billion dollars by phasing out the personal property tax (PPT).

It’s generally agreed that the PPT is not a particularly smart tax. It forces companies to pay taxes on equipment that they purchase which has the effect of encouraging them NOT to make capital investments that can help them thrive and grow.

However, here’s the rub: getting rid of it will take nearly half a billion dollars out of city budgets, many of which are largely dependent upon this tax. If you think the problem with bankrupt cities and Emergency Managers is bad now, this will make it worse.

Have a look at this chart from the Michigan Municipal League’s Replace Don’t Erase website…

My wife, Anne C. Savage accompanied me and Christine Barry, owner of Blogging for Michigan, to the State of the State address on Wednesday. She was there, as were we, with media passes. However, her effort to actually do any photographing of the event was completely shut down by overly-aggressive security and what seems to be a clear effort by […]

Last week, Senator and serial sexist Rick Jones from Lansing called public relations executive Kelly Rossman-McKinney a “hooker”. Brian Dickerson of the Detroit Free Press describes the situation: [Senator Jones] likened longtime Lansing public relations executive Kelly Rossman-McKinney to “a hooker” in the Michigan Information and Research Services’ widely read Capital Capsule, a daily report on state government news. Rossman-McKinney, […]

Last week, I wrote about Carson Borbely & Katy Butler, two inspiring Ann Arbor teens who have done something tangible and important to combat bullying in Michigan. Fighting back against a Senate-passed “License to Bully” bill that claims to be “anti-bullying”, the created a petition at Change.org. When I wrote my piece last Thursday, the petition had a bit over […]

Last week, I wrote about the so-called “anti”-bullying bill passed by the Michigan Senate a couple of weeks ago that is not only not anti-bullying but, in fact, is generally known as “The License to Bully Bill”. In my article, I mentioned two Ann Arbor teenagers who stepped up to respond in a powerful way. Two Ann Arbor-area students, Katy […]

I have a piece up at A2Politico this week that talks about how Democrats in the Michigan legislature are finding ways to have a voice in our state despite their minority status. Using the example of the “anti”-bullying bill passed by Senate Republicans earler this month, I show how they managed to impact a similar bill that was passed by […]

State Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer is on a tear lately. After dressing down Republicans for their passage of an anti-bullying bill that was anything but last week, today she read them the riot act for going on a two-week deer hunting season vacation when they have so much left undone. To my colleagues: we are poised today to leave […]

In one of the sickest and most vile acts of irony yet seen in Michigan under the current Republican regime, Michigan Republicans yesterday passed a bill that lays out specific pathways for legalized bullying in our schools. It is effectively a “Blueprint for Bullying”. The bill passed 26-11 along party lines. It now goes to the House of Representatives. Legislation […]