Americans for Prosperity-Michigan

Tax Increases or Budget Cuts? A Time for Choosing

The Michigan legislature is placing the final touches on the 2009-2010 state budget that if left to the status quo will be $1.7 billion in deficit. Will tax increases and stimulus money be used to fill this hole that will only be larger next year?

Two years ago the legislature and Governor agreed to an income tax increase and a new sales tax on services (months later repealed for a 22% business tax surcharge) to balance the budget. Raising taxes didn’t work. Michigan continues to languish economically.

Lansing politicians have avoided the hard questions for far too long. It is time to make hard choices. It is time for real reforms and budget cuts. Outside the box thinking is needed to create an environment that will attract the investment capital necessary to bring new jobs to Michigan. Substantial jobs are needed. Not the occasional press release announcement about a few new jobs, while at the same time we are quietly losing thousands of jobs across the state.

So are tax increases and protecting the status quo the answer? Or are real budget cuts and real reforms the key to Michigan’s future? Several legislators have already introduced legislation to raise taxes including the income tax, property tax and gas tax. A battle royal is evolving . . . recently the state Senate passed $1 billion in cuts to two budgets alone. The storyline has yet to be written.

Many programs could be saved if real reforms that save real dollars are passed; however, this Governor and legislature have not passed real reforms. Nolan Finley, columnist for the Detroit News, wrote recently in the Detroit News about 10 major studies of Michigan’s structural deficit since 2005 “Almost none of the ideas in the 10 reports have been implemented.” Click here to read the column entitled “Lansing lets good ideas gather dust.”

Certainly one thing is clear – the Michigan economy is the worst in the nation with the highest unemployment rate, a declining state gross domestic product and a substantial loss in personal income.

Your tax dollars are paying the salaries of Lansing lobbyists to advocate on behalf of continuing and growing state and local bureaucracies. Will they succeed in protecting that bureaucracy?

As a Michigan citizen you have a right to have your voice heard. Your opinion still counts long after election day. Let your legislators know that protecting the status quo is not the answer. Let your legislators know you want real reforms and real budget cuts.

We can write a storyline for a Michigan with a bright economic future. Contact your legislators and demand that they implement real cuts and real reforms.