Republican tax hikes hit poor 1,000 times harder than rich

A new report from the Michigan League of Human Services shows just how much the Republican tax hikes are expected to hurt Michigan families.

Just a reminder in case you don't know what Michigan Republicans did:

• 51% of families will pay higher taxes.
• The Earned Income Tax Credit - which rewards people for work - was drastically reduced.
• The child tax credit was also reduced.
• The tax deduction for charities has been eliminated, costing you an extra $435 if you donate $10,000 per year to good causes.
• Pensions are now being taxed.

State Rep. Jud Gilbert (R-$80,000 Per Year), second from left in the top picture, tried to explain it away.

State Rep. Jud Gilbert, R- Algonac, chair of the House Tax Committee, says the bills were part of a larger package aimed at streamlining the tax code. He says about $1.4 billion in tax credits, including tax credits to businesses, were eliminated. The package also reduced the Earned Income Tax Credit - another credit for the poor - from 20 percent to 6 percent of the federal credit.

“I think what we’ve done in the revamping of the tax code,” says Gilbert,” is people are paying the same rate on the same amount of income. “

"Streamlining the tax code." Boy, we've sure heard that quite a bit from conservatives. It's a line that ignores a simple truth: Life isn't black-and-white. Not everybody can afford to pay the same on everything.

For a Party that claims to be all about Christian values, they sure don't act like they take Matthew 25 to heart.

Sick of highly-paid teachers?

Found this on Facebook:

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!

We can get that for less than minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.

However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET'S SEE....

That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is!

The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000.

$50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Make a teacher smile; repost this to show appreciation for all educators!

How do you know if your lawmaker is a Democrat?

I'll give you a hint: Whether or not someone calls themself a Democrat is not the greatest indicator of whether someone really is one. (You probably knew that, right?)

See, real Democrats are the ones who stand up for ordinary people. They show - by their actions, not just by their words - that they want excellent healthcare, a clean environment, and did I mention a quality education for all young people?

Take these highlights from the 2008 Michigan Democratic Party platform:

Provide unprecedented educational funding. Under Governor Granholm’s leadership, per-student public school funding has been increased to record level of over $7,300 per student.

Make higher education available for all. Higher education is vital to success in the new economy. Under the leadership of Lt. Governor John Cherry, the Lt. Governor’s Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth devised a comprehensive plan to double the number of Michigan residents with a college degree or other valuable educational credential. Michigan Democrats vigorously support the plan and applaud the progress toward implementation.

Democrats want to make sure higher education and technical training in high-growth fields is accessible and affordable to all. Governor Granholm’s $4,000 Michigan Promise Scholarship, available to all high school graduates, helps ensure that they can go to college or receive post-secondary training.

Kinda makes you wonder about people like George Cushingberry, one of three people with a D by their name who were part of a panel that cut the Michigan Promise scholarship.

Or those Blue Dog 'Democrats' in Congress who choose profits instead of people's lives.

Who Said It?

Match the quote with the person who said it! It's more fun if you guess before you click the links!

• "I didn't come here to debate the past -- I came here to deal with future"
• "As Americans get to know gay couples and or have gay family members, or work associates ... they come to understand that these relationships are deep and worth being respect and being protected."
  
• "If my Senate Republican colleagues want to figure out a way to cut state spending and limit our budget shortfall, they should take up this legislation next week."
  
• "You don't pull out a gun if everybody in the room knows it's not loaded."
  
• "Imagine boarding a train in the center of a city. No racing to an airport and across a terminal, no delays, no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no taking off your shoes. (Laughter.) Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 miles an hour, walking only a few steps to public transportation, and ending up just blocks from your destination."
  
• "This is coming out today: Rush Limbaugh’s dog says he hopes Obama’s dog fails." 
  

Who Said It?

1. David Letterman
2. McCain advisor Steve Schmidt
3. Joe Biden
4. Fmr. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-PA
5. Barack Obama
6. State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Lansing
   

Bits of Tid: January 24, 2009

It Still Doesn't Seem Real Edition

• Obama's President. Nope, it still hasn't hit me.
  
• Headline from the Politico: Obama to GOP: 'I won'.
  
• Both houses of Congress have passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which is expected to be signed into law by President Obama soon after the differenced between the House and Senate versions are reconciled.
• Peter Luke offers a way to save Michigan money. Also from Peter Luke, Obama's stimulus plan may keep the state from having to make even more unpopular cuts.
  
• I'm getting the feeling that the Repubs just don't want to win anymore.
  
  And the Lions are going to win the Super Bowl.
  
• 
  
• PunditKitchen.com
  
• If you were First Lady (or First Gentleman) of the United States, what issues would you champion? Laura Bush championed literacy; Hillary Clinton, healthcare reform; and Betty Ford, mental health. I would probably champion cancer research and an end to sexual aggression.

Bits of Tid: June 30, 2008

• Have you seen Barack's new ad?
  
  
• Here are three things you might want to tell those of your friends who aren't yet in the Obama camp.
• Whaddya know, it's June and they already have a tentative budget deal in Lansing.
• I'm on PartyBuilder!
• Did you hear that sprinter Tyson Homosexual set an American record in Olympic qualifying in the 100 meters? Actually it was Tyson Gay, but not according to a far-right news website.
• This credit card advice could save you a bundle.
• Can you believe that were are almost halfway through 2008?

Switalski: Budget likely to be finished by July 1

This is worth a sigh of relief following last year's intense budget battle:

The Senate finished a productive week in Lansing, finishing 7 of 8 budget bills. While the spotlight has been on the Mayor of Detroit and the Presidential Campaign, Michigan legislators have been quietly doing our jobs. In March, we moved the budget bills through subcommittees, full Appropriations committees, and finally through the full Senate this week. We reached consensus on most budgets. Even when we did have disagreements, particularly on the K-12 School Aid Budget and the Community Health Budget, we kept the debate on the issues and not on a partisan or personal basis.

...

We are on target to finish our budget ahead of time this year, well before July 1st. You may recall that we didn’t finish last year until November, and the Government actually shut down for a few hours in October before we could reach any agreements. The constant bickering, the all-night sessions, the dueling press conferences are all so last year.

There is a new spirit of cooperation and mutual respect between the parties and the chambers this year. It’s like when you finally have the big fight in the schoolyard, the antagonists bloody each other up and then become friends.

It is kind of like that in the Michigan Legislature. Once you’ve gone through an ordeal like last year’s battle, you know whom you can trust and you also gain respect and understanding of where colleagues are coming from. Even when you disagree, you find a way to argue without losing your temper. You concentrate reaching a conclusion, not fighting for its own sake.

Sen. Alan Cropsey, who represents Mount Pleasant and other areas, was in my class with Gary Peters last Monday. He agreed that lawmakers will probably be done with the budget around the Fourth of July.

At CMU forum, top lawmakers say they'd take pay cut; all but Bishop rule out 2010 guv run

I had the chance to attend the semi-annual Griffin Policy Forum, put on by the Robert and Marjorie Griffin Endowed Chair in American Government at CMU. (One Gary Peters currently holds that chair.)

This fall's Griffin Forum was titled "Now What? Managing the budget crisis while promoting a positive future for Michigan." Their panelists were Andy Dillon, Mike Bishop, Craig DeRoche, and Mark Schauer, with Tim Skubick as moderator. Seeing as how the panel consisted of four titans in Michigan politics, there was no way I was going to pass up the chance to go.

Few points were made by either side that I hadn't heard before then. Schauer discussed the uncertainty of the budget process and how that likely scared off businesses that would have otherwise invested in Michigan. Dillon called out the Repubs for not doing their jobs. DeRoche kept parroting the old GOP talking points: 'Taxes are bad!' 'We need reforms!' 'Why did I go to CMU? Go Broncos!' (Okay, he didn't use that last one.) All in all, not much besides what both sides have been saying for months now.

That said, not many of the hundreds of people in attendance had followed the budget battle as closely as I have, so for them to argue the same points was understandable.

They all agreed that extending the 6% tax on services was not a good idea; they disagreed as to where the new revenue should be replaced. Mike Bishop said he supports increasing the sales tax to 6.5%. Schauer supports retooling the new Michigan Business Tax. I'll have more on Republican tax hypocrisy in an upcoming post.

Tim Skubick seemed to take his job as a journalist seriously. Not that I haven't been unhappy with some of the things he's said and done, but props to him for giving the panelists some tough questions. After DeRoche went on about reforms, Skubick p0wned him by asking, "Where were all the reforms when Engler was governor?" He's also good for a few laughs, though: "Here's the score of the game: Western 3, CMU 102." While discussing a forum on political stability which he moderated: "At the time, we were all in favor of it."

Mark this down: When asked if they would take a pay cut, all four of them said they would. Schauer and I believe one other person said they and some of their colleagues return a portion of their salary to the Treasury. (While you might think this recent proposal offers hope in that regard, this proposal affects future lawmakers, not themselves.)

Another thing to mark down: When asked if they would run for governor, Dillon, DeRoche, and Schauer all said No. Bishop's response? "You never know." Expect more definitive answers on this following next year's Presidential election.

Following the forum, Bill Ballenger, the previous Griffin Endowed Chair, congratulated Peters on a job well done. I second Ballenger's remark. For him to get these heavyweights in Michigan politics under one roof is a rare feat. Peters should be commended for helping to enhance our education at CMU by bringing these titans to Mount Pleasant.

State revenues: enough with the whining already!

What happened?

Last week the Legislature passed a continuation budget that extended the deadline for passing the final Fiscal Year 2008 budget by four weeks. Governor Granholm refused to sign it, stating she would not sign any such proposal without a guarantee from the Legislature that there would be new revenues. Because of this, the state government partially shut down for 4 hours and 18 minutes on Monday.

At 4:18 AM Monday morning, the Governor signed the continuation budget after two new sets of revenues were passed in both the House and the Senate; this ended the shutdown.

The new revenues

The state's income tax will go up from 3.9% to 4.35% - still lower than 2/3 of the state's income taxes. The state expects more than $750 billion in new revenues form this tax increase.

Officials also expect a similar amount to be generated by an extension of the 6% sales tax to a number of services, which are listed here.

How does Michigan's new tax rates stack up?

I'll let this article from the Detroit Free Press sum it up:

Thirty-six of the 43 states with income taxes have rates higher than Michigan's new 4.35 rate, at least as of January 2007, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators. But a fair comparison is elusive because most states, unlike Michigan, have graduated income taxes under which taxpayers see their rates increase as their incomes go up.

...

The state's 6 percent sales tax in two months will go from covering 26 service categories to covering 53, including new categories such as skiing, consulting and interior design. At that point, Michigan will rank 27th nationally in the number of taxed services, according to the Michigan Department of Treasury.

Michigan is tied with nine other states that have a 6 percent sales tax, the nation's 11th highest. California has the highest rate, at 7.25 percent, while Colorado's 2.9 rate is the lowest among states that have sales taxes.

Hey conservatives, if high taxes mean weaker economies, then why is Michigan's unemployment rate - 7.4% - the highest in the country instead of being in the middle of the pack?

What this all means for you

Will you pay more in taxes? Yes, but not much. Back to the Free Press article:

The combination of a higher income tax and sales taxes on more services will cost a family of four earning $50,000 a year about $207 - $157 in income tax and about $50 in sales tax, treasury officials estimate.

"That's $4 a week per household," Kleine said. "What that is doing is preventing very drastic cuts in higher education, school aid, Medicaid and public safety."

$4 per family per week to keep Michigan from becoming even worse off? Sounds like a good investment to me - and I'm a college student whose family has mediocre health insurance!

So enough with the whining and complaining about having to pay more. Tax cuts have not helped Michigan's economy, nor will tax hikes hurt. Please don't complain about having to pay just a little less than you used to. A few dollars a week is NOT going to hurt your bottom line.

If anything, you ought to be complaining not about taxes that aren't really that high, but about the high cost of gas (which Democrats have tried to do something about), or prescription drugs (which Democrats have also tried to do something about).

Or having to spend $4.50 for a pop at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. Which I don't think many Dems can do anything about.

Bits of Tid: September 21, 2007

I'm More Popular than Brownback Edition

• Yours truly is one of Michigan Liberal's newest front-pagers!
• 7.4% unemployment sure sucks. Good news? One of Granholm's community-based economic-development initiatives has won an award.
• Many believe a state government shutdown would be worse news for Mike Bishop and the Republicans than for Granholm, Dillon, and Democrats.
• The AFL-CIO now has a black woman as its Executive VP. Also, be sure to check out their political-mobilization plans.
• Staying with the AFL-CIO: Gary Peters is the first Congressional candidate ever to earn their endorsement so early in an election cycle.
• I'm not done with the AFL-CIO yet. Professor Jennifer Lawless shares her thoughts on why we don't have more women in public office.
• Kathy at Stone Soup Musings, on Republicans:

They argue that no amount of money is too much to spend in Iraq, but when it comes to meeting the needs of people here at home - the ones who send their tax dollars to Washington to pay for their war - they snap their wallets shut and expect the rest of us to follow along. ...

So you see, it's okay for us to send money to Washington so they can continue their war indefinitely - a war that enriches Republican profiteers and CEO's of defense contractors - but we get nothing in return, not even some change to spend on our schools, infrastructure, health care, etc.

• Rep. Peter King (R-NY): "We have too many mosques in this country." Uh, Congressman, what if someone said we have too many churches? You wouldn't like that, would you? Me neither. So put a cork in it.
• It appears Iceland and Grand Rapids have a similar goal: go fossil-fuel-free.
• My item on GR's efforts to go 100% green got a nod in this week's Eco-Diary Rescue on Daily Kos.
• A couple quick items from CMU: Central might have a new Executive VP/Provost and a new VP for Finance and Administrative Services soon. I say 'might' because the last attempt to get a new Provost didn't work out so well. A search for the College of Business Administration dean went on for a couple years. lso, Cesar Chavez's granddaughter is coming to speak at CMU next month.
• Finally, with a hat tip to the MDP, I conclude with a picture of Sam Brownback delivering a campaign speech See if you notice anything in particular.

Bits of Tid: September 16, 2007

Constitution Day Eve/Sucks-to-be-a-Republican Edition

• Tomorrow is Constitution Day - the 220th anniversary of the signing of the US Consititution! How fitting, since it's Alberto Gonzales's last day as AG!
• Speaking of the Constitution: I was thinking recently, Jennifer Granholm ought to jump in the Presidential race. I mean, sure she wasn't born in the US, so technically she's not supposed to run. But if Bush won't follow the Constitution, why should Jenny? Oh that's right, she has morals.
• Oh, and there's this little thing called the "state budget crisis." But she's already done more about it than state Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop has! Again, MichLib and BFM have all the latest. And don't forget to check out this piece from Christine.
• Speaking of MichLib, I am now doing Sunday Coffee Talk instead of Saturday.
  
• Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island - who won a hotly-contested primary last year before losing his bid for re-election to a Democrat - has left the Republican Party. This comes as no surprise to me; Chafee said that rather than voting for Bush in 2004, he wrote in the elder Bush's name.
• Chafee is not alone. Late last week, Greenspan gave the GOP a shellacking. Today, Kerry did the same to McCain.
• After threats from the DNC, Florida is backing down with regards to its presidential primary. Will the MDP follow suit?
• This weekend in sports: The Whitecaps won their fifth Midwest League championship! Also, the Tigers are now within 4 1/2 games of Cleveland, U-M dominated Notre Shame Dame 38-0, and the Lions continue to share the best record in the NFL: 2-0.

Bits of Tid: September 14, 2007

First One In Quite Some Time Edition

• I really don't like quitting things, but I have decided that doing the WeekEnder each Friday is a little too much for me, and that if I were to continue, I would not likely be able to put much effort into it. Still look for me to post photos, videos, quotes, jokes, etc., but not in the WeekEnder format.
• As the state's new fiscal year approaches (17 days from now), it is crunch time in Lansing, with state lawmakers under pressure to come up with a state budget ASAP. Both Michigan Liberal and Blogging for Michigan have all the latest.
• CMU's College Democrats are calling out Republican lawmakers for their inaction on the state budget.
• Let's welcome Fred Thompson into the 2008 race! Thompson this week said that catching bin Laden would be "more symbolism than anything else." Fred is also backed by a plurality of those who think global warming is a hoax.
• House Republican Leader John Boehner said that the deaths of 4,000 Americans is a "small price" to pay in this ridiculous war. Neither DNC Chair Howard Dean nor DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen are having any of that.
• Things are not all that rosy for Republicans in their attempt to take control of Congress. After Sen. John Warner's (R-VA) recent retirement announcement, Mark Warner (no relation) has jumped into the race. It also looks like former New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen will run in the Granite State. Even Bob Novak expects the GOP to lose several seats in the Senate.
• The ex-chair of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans is set to spend five years in prison for sexual assault. He could even be disbarred. NOW will Republicans support fellons' right to vote?
• On a related note, the DNC has issued this list of 50+ Republican scandals.
• More and more military personnel are financially supporting Democrats.

Senate GOP leader removes students from hearing

The newly launched Michigan Messenger has the latest:

Three Michigan College students, 2 from Central Michigan University and one from Michigan State University, were expelled from a Michigan Senate Appropriations hearing this afternoon for bringing in signs.

The three students were Andy Leavitt, 21, from CMU; Matthew Sous, 20, from CMU; and Andrew Gerlach, 19, of MSU. All three are members of the Facebook group "I'm Pissed Mike Bishop Is Raising My Tuition."

At the hearing, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop laid out a budget proposal that would eliminate $139 million in funding for higher education. Of this Republican proposal, Andy says:

"It's a tax on students," said Leavitt. "His cuts land $138 million less on higher education-- the mostly likely victims of this cut will be us, the students."

This is not the first time Sen. Bishop has cracked down on people's right to freedom of speech. Last month he prevented Senate offices from viewing the progressive website Blogging for Michigan.

So why - on September 11, of all days - did Sen. Bishop kick Matt and Andy out? As Matt notes:

"He knows if we put a face on his cuts," Sous said, "he's going to lose."

More on the Republican budget proposal later this week. In the meantime, here's a video from Senate Democrats regarding the proposal:

CMU students sound off on GOP lawmakers' budget inaction

Following Wednesday's College Democrats meeting, four members recorded their thoughts on Republican lawmakers' stalling of the state budget.

Phil:

Brittany:

Andy (MichLib's Skim Tubick):

Scott (yours truly):

Special thanks to John VanDeventer for stopping by and offering both his thoughts and his laptop with built-in camcorder!

Message from Gov. Granholm to college students

Governor Jennifer Granholm has issued an open letter to college students across the state regarding the budget crisis. It reads, in part:

August is underway and that means friends are moving into their first apartments in Ann Arbor and Mt. Pleasant, parents are taking their sons and daughters to back-to-school sales in East Lansing and Grand Rapids, and freshmen are finalizing their first classes in Marquette and Kalamazoo. All across our state, this is a time when students should be excited for the start of another year at Michigan's top-notch colleges and universities. But, instead, recent spikes in college tuition rates have left Michigan families worried about how they're going to afford school and still keep gas in their tanks and food on the table. Many of you are just plain mad.

You should be. And I am, too.

As a parent, I'm mad about the dent these tuition hikes will put in our pocketbooks. Like many of you, my own daughter is starting college this fall. The dramatic rise in tuition and fees was an unwelcome surprise for our family and, most likely, for yours.

When you're opening your tuition bill in the coming weeks, it might seem easy to blame your school for the sharp increase. But the real problem is in Lansing. Michigan is in the middle of an urgent budget crisis and, so far, our legislature has failed to act.

The full letter is available here.

Here are a few other ways you can take action:

• Join the Facebook group Lower MI Tuition.
• Post a video on YouTube regarding the budget crisis.
• Print up one (or more) of these posters.
• Contact your state lawmakers.

LTTE: Lawmakers bad employees

The following letter to the editor appears in today's Grand Rapids Press.

If you were your company's boss, and you had employees who weren't doing the work they were hired to do, wouldn't you get on their case? While Michigan continues to deal with economic and budget woes, some state lawmakers decided to put a two-week vacation above the interests of our state.

Universities and school districts are having to make budget projections based on uncertainty. Businesses considering moving to Michigan are scared away by the state's poor credit rating. Why aren't such lawmakers as Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop willing to work toward a solution to this budget crisis? What's more, many lawmakers oppose a tax increase. Never mind the fact that Republicans raised the gas and cigarette taxes when John Engler was governor, or that our personal income and business tax rates are lower than those of most other states. Or that a bipartisan panel recently said that new revenues are needed to get our state out of the fiscal and economic hole.

I certainly don't fault Governor Jennifer Granholm, who has worked tirelessly over the past few years to fix the enormous problems Michigan faces. Michigan lawmakers are paid a salary of $80,000 per year, more than state legislators in most other states.

What business do they have in the Legislature if they choose vacationing over working?

As Americans, we are the bosses of our elected officials. As Michigan residents, we must remind our lawmakers that they're not paid to fiddle while our state burns.

-- SCOTT URBANOWSKI/Kentwood

I humbly accept your applause. ;-)

Please read the other letters in today's Press as well; we have lots of good ones today, including another one that uses the 'fiddling while Michigan burns' metaphor! (There's also more illustrious framing of the issue here.)

(I should note that in the version I sent in, the paragraphs didn't break the way they do here. So if, say, the third to last paragraph didn't make sense, now you know why.)