Republicans file bill to eliminate EITC

As expected, Michigan Senate Republicans submitted a bill on Tuesday that would eliminate the Earned Income Tax Credit, which goes to hundreds of thousands of the working poor in this state.

Election dashes hopes of passing anti-bullying legislation

The considerable and historic gains by Michigan Republicans in Tuesday’s election is giving new voice to outgoing GOP members who say legislation to address bullying that has languished in the legislature for years is not going to be taken up in the lame duck session.

No new revenue – even if the voters want it

With drastic cuts in state revenue sharing and a sharp drop in property tax receipts, local governments all over the state are starved for revenue to keep basic services like police and fire protection and snow removal going. Enter Rep. Marie Donigan, who sponsored HB 5059, a bill that would allow local governments to impose [...]

Senate Republicans want more cuts in Medicaid

At a time when a record 1.8 million Michigan residents rely on Medicaid for their health care and hospitals and doctors are increasingly reluctant to take Medicaid patients due to the low reimbursement rates, the Republican-led Michigan Senate wants to cut those payments even further rather than raising the necessary revenue to keep the primary [...]

Senate passes more cuts to school funding

The Republican-led Michigan Senate passed a school funding bill for FY 2011, which begins October 1, that would add more drastic cuts to per-pupil aid in K-12 schools. This puts them at odds with every other party to the budget battles – Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the Democratic-led House and even the House Republican caucus. The [...]

Michigan GOP proposes more budget cuts, no new revenues

With another deficit of $1.7 billion projected for the fiscal year 2011 budget that begins in October, Republican leaders in the state legislature are proposing the same thing they proposed last year – deep cuts, including salary reductions for teachers and other public employees, and no new revenues to help pay for government services. And [...]

Michigan’s regressive tax system

Blogging for Michigan quotes a Gongwer report (subscription only) on a new study by the non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) that concludes that Michigan is among the states with the most regressive tax structures, resulting in the poor and the middle class paying a much higher percentage of their income in state [...]

Granholm says she is ‘angry’ over Promise Scholarship elimination

Gov. Jennifer Granholm released a video message Monday about the Michigan Promise Scholarship. In the message, she says she is “angry” about the scholarship’s removal from a final budget she signed into law in October.

Nofs win doesn’t change Senate calculus

Mike Nofs won Mark Schauer’s old seat in the Michigan Senate last night, which extends the Republican majority in the Senate from 20-17 to 21-17. This changes little in terms of the odds that the Senate will approve new revenue bills, however, because the number of Republicans required to vote for such a bill remains [...]

Lawmakers scramble to find solutions to plummeting state revenues

LANSING — As the state is bracing for the worst for the coming budget 2010-2011 year, many are also working to find answers.

In an interview with Michigan Messenger on Monday night, Rep. Joan Bauer, a Democrat from Lansing who serves on the Appropriations Committee, said the state has to look at long term tax reforms.