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.
The Detroit Free Press reports on a new study from the Pew Center for the States that pinpoints the cause of Michigan’s persistent revenue shortfalls and resulting deficits: An out of date revenue structure that offers too many tax breaks and avoids taxing the most common types of spending.
The shock waves of the domestic auto industry’s decline, home foreclosures and persistent state deficits could last for decades, according to the Pew Center on the States.
The report quoted Donald Grimes, a University of Michigan senior research specialist, saying he expects new data this year will show Michigan is among the nation’s 10 poorest states.
If Michigan’s economy suddenly grew at the rate it did during the prosperous 1990s, it would be 2025 or 2030 before it recovered all the jobs it’s lost in the past decade, said Susan Urahn, managing director for the Pew Center on the States.
“Michigan is essentially adjusting to a new normal, where the state may just have to deal with a permanent set of pared-back services,” she said. “It is simply not one of the most prosperous states anymore.”
The report says Michigan’s population is becoming older and less affluent, and its outmoded tax system can’t support state government.
Generous tax exemptions for retirees and businesses, and the exclusion of services from sales taxes, are two reasons for persistent state deficits, according to the report.
Couples can receive up to $110,000 in pension and other retirement income without paying anything to the state.
“In 20 years, we’re going to look like Florida does now if the demographic trends continues and no one’s going to be paying taxes except those that are working,” Mitch Bean, director of the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency, told Pew researchers.
And here’s an absolutely staggering fact:
Last year, the state offered $6.3 billion more in business tax breaks than it collected in taxes.
This is clearly unsustainable. Yearly revenue shortfalls have forced more than $5 billion in budget cuts over the last few years, yet the Senate Republicans still adamantly refuse any proposal to raise more revenue. You can read the full study here (PDF).
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