Taxes and Spending – the Perennial Issues

Here is an excerpt from the February 2010 Washtenaw Republican Informer, of which I am a co-editor and which may be accessed on the Washtenaw Republican Party website:

Read “Where We Are and How We Got There”, Feb. 17, 2010, by Mitch Bean, with the House Fiscal Agency. This is not fun reading, but a good summary of the State's fiscal status. What is missing, however, are options for cost controls and job growth which help solve the revenue shortfalls. For good starts, see:

• Republican Senate Reform Package which could potentially save the state more than $2 billion.
  House Republican Strategic Task Force on Jobs
  The Michigan 2010 Small Business Agenda
  The Michigan Turnaround Plan, by the Business Leaders for Michigan
  

Both Republican caucuses and the business groups oppose the tax increases in Governor Granholm’s Proposed Budget. Where some difference of opinion exists among the Republican and Republican oriented groups is whether reforming Michigan to gain control of costs and a reforming the tax structure should occur simultaneously Consensus appears to be that cost control must come first, before reforming the Michigan tax structure is put on the table. Otherwise, the fear is that “restructuring” simply becomes a tax increase.