Basically, you could say that your mortgage or rent or car payment is a sort of private tax. The bank assesses you so much, and you pay it so that you can keep your house or car.
Nobody really objects to that, because you can see what you are getting, and also see what you have to lose. Taxes are like that too. Except we aren’t too sure sometimes of what we get for them, and many of us now think that government spending is always bad.
Right now, we are in a recession, and the state has less money than it used to.
Politicians fear that if the voters believe they are raising taxes of any kind, they will punish them.
They may be right. But in Michigan, taxes go to fix the roads and bridges and send our kids to school.
There is no longer enough money to do the things the state has always done, and we have a choice. We can pay more, or get less. Unlike the federal government, the state has to balance its books every year. And we citizens are a bundle of contradictions. Nobody wants to pay more. But nobody wants to lose the services they get, either. Trouble is, most of us don’t know what we would lose if we really do insist on a budget without any new revenue.
So here’s a sample. This isn’t hypothetical; this is from the budget the Republican-controlled state senate is in the process of passing, a budget without tax increases.
One of the bright spots in our economy has been tourism, which has been helped by the Pure Michigan advertising campaign.
The Senate voted to end that ad campaign, and added a 51 percent cut in the money to maintain the state’s welcome centers. Senator Liz Brater thought that was crazy.
“That’s cutting off our nose to spite our face.” she said. “We’re trying to attract tourism in this state.” Yes, well, it takes money to make money, and her colleagues won’t spend it.
The governor proposed funding the ads with a tax on rental cars at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, a tax paid mostly by out-of-state travelers. But the senate refused because any taxes are bad.
What we need even more than tourism is jobs. But the senate voted to eliminate two-thirds of the 21st century jobs fund.
That isn’t even funded by tax dollars; it is funded by the tobacco settlement money. But the senators took it away anyway.
They further cut revenue sharing for hard-hit local governments, and heavily cut highway maintenance and other transportation funds. Now to be fair, the Senate is planning on using the money cut from the roads to try to qualify for $475 million in federal matching funds, something that’s essential.
But it isn’t clear whether this will work.
That’s far from the complete list of things that will have to be cut. They haven’t even gotten to higher education.
But we can only get what we are willing to pay for. So, you might want to ask whether we really have our priorities straight.
I feel there is a BIG flaw in your comparison. Everyone who wants a car or house and chooses to have those benefits pays for it. Everyone who wants to receives the benefits of living ,doing business, or visiting the great state of Michigan does not pay for it. Let's make more revenue by increasing the number of people or businesses that are paying. Decrease tax deductions, business abatements, and other credits that allow many to pay substantially less than others. AND, Tax the churches!! Why should they be exempt from something as basic as property taxes. Karlene
Posted by: Karlene Johnson | May 17, 2010 at 02:02 PM