Hey, brother, can you spare $819 million?
That’s what the state of Michigan will likely be asking taxpayers as the governor and Legislature struggle with the gap between expected revenues and actual revenues for this year.
Public relations and carefully communicating with the media always play a role in what politicians say. Sometimes, what people are not saying is just as important as what they are saying. No one in charge in Lansing is saying yes to taxes, but none of them are saying no either.
Consider the following comments from the Democratic and Republican leaders in Lansing:
Gov. Granholm says state government is actually facing a “$3 billion deficit” because she is including the elimination of the Single Business Tax, which doesn’t expire until a year from now.
The governor appointed an “Emergency Financial Advisory Panel” and gave them three weeks to solve a problem that she and the Legislature have known was coming for years. The panel is a who’s-who list of people on record supporting tax increases and the consensus around town is that it’s designed to provide the governor with political cover for tax increases.
The governor told MIRS recently that “how we solve the state’s fiscal crisis is a critical part of our ability to transform our economy,” thereby tying fixing the current deficit to something everyone supports: fixing the economy.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester Hills, recently told MIRS that while he doesn’t see taxes as the answer, “In government you have to leave the door open to things.”
When asked whether he supported expanding the sales tax to services, State Sen. Ron Jelinek, the Republican in charge of the Senate’s budget committee, recently told the Detroit News, “Those who understand the revenue situation we’re in are showing some interest in this. We won’t be able to provide services a lot of people feel are essential if we don’t have a revenue stream for them.”
When dealing with a budget shortfall, the two options are to cut spending or increase revenues. The list of people saying no to taxes is dwindling, while the list of government programs those same people want to protect is growing. Reconciling the difference is likely to fall on the taxpayers’ shoulders – the question at this point is how much of the burden is about to be shifted your way.
January 19th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Here’s $20 bucks…does that help???
I think it is interesting to note that nearly all of the people on the Guv super-special “Emergency Financial Advisory Panel” are still at the public trough, meaining they are collecting a taxpayer-funded state pensions. Do you think there will be a serious recommendation to cut legacy costs — including pension benefits — when the report is made later this month???