Tax increases are a ‘joke’ says majority leader’s office

Matt Marsden, spokesman for Michigan Sen. Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, has called the three bills passed by the Michigan House Tuesday night “a joke.”

The three bills would raise several specific taxes to raise more revenue in an attempt to reduce the severity of several budget cuts.

The Grand Rapids Press reports Marsden’s comments in a story Wednesday morning.

Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Michael Bishop, R-Rochester, called the House approach on tax bills “a joke,” adding: “What do they possibly expect us to do with them?”

Bishop and other Senate Republicans have said the budget has to be balanced with cuts, and only cuts. They have opposed bills to increase taxes. In what is largely seen as a political move, last week, with the state facing a shut-down, the Senate Republicans moved a bill to the floor that would have raised the income tax rate. The bill died with Democrats and Republicans alike voting it down.

Democrats called the move political, noting that they had introduced a series of targeted tax increases they say would raise the revenue to dull the pain of steep cuts in such programs as K-12 funding, the elimination of the Michigan Promise Scholarship and reductions in Medicaid reimbursements.