I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Longtime Capitol reporter and commentator Peter Luke had a column on Wednesday that blistered the current crop of state legislators for their indecision and ineptness and raised the idea of extending the state sales tax to services as well as products. In particular, he regards a recent bill submitted by Rep. Mark Meadows (D-East Lansing) as a solid starting point for a policy change that could restore funding for local schools and local governments without a major burden on Michigan residents.
Sales taxes are the primary funding source for schools and the logical target for change. Lawmakers are not going to hike the income tax. Increasing the 6-mill statewide property tax would require a legislative super-majority and raising the 6-percent rate requires a vote of the public. Expanding the things that are taxed does not. Michigan ranks in the bottom third of states in sales tax liability. Taxing services reflects a changing economy. It’s politically doable.
The chief problem with the sales tax is that since Proposal A was crafted, Michigan consumers are spending less on goods that are taxed and more on services that aren’t. And then when the national economy went haywire a year ago, they cut up their department store credit cards.
Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, tossed a bill in the hopper last week that would apply the sales tax to almost all consumer services. It would lessen the impact by reducing the sales tax rate to 5 percent. The money raised would do three main things:
• Repeal the damaging surcharge to the Michigan Business Tax.
• Increase revenue sharing to local governments by more than $400 million on a full-year basis.
• Generate about $1 billion in new money for schools over the 2010 and 2011 school years.
For consumers, the change would mean a 20-cent cut in the sales tax on a $20 sweatshirt. It would, however, mean a new $1 tax on a $20 haircut.
For parents, it would mean that their second-grader would be in a class of 20 students instead of a class of 30.
Meadows’ bill is a starting point and it has to be accompanied by spending changes that invests more in classroom instruction. But it remains the only framework for broad-based school finance reform with a plausible chance of passing.
This is indeed a very good starting point, but getting it passed will require that Senate Republicans drop their absolute insistence on no new revenues and that Democrats in both chambers of the statehouse remain united. Given the numbers in the Senate, it only requires peeling away 2 or 3 Republicans to get such a measure passed.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter