I’ll raise taxes because that’s the only way you are going to get anything like the same level of services you’ve been used to.
I am going to raise your taxes, because that’s the only way we can continue to support higher education at the levels we need to give Michigan a chance to compete in the economy of the future.
I am going to fight to raise taxes, because our roads and bridges and water and sewer systems are crumbling. And I want our children to have a quality of life as nice as we’ve had.
No, I didn’t see any candidates running on that platform, probably because they figured they would be creamed.
But on the other hand, I didn’t see anybody saying this either: Vote for me, and I will lower your taxes, or at least promise not to raise them. In return, you are going to get far less in terms of services than you ever imagined. The schools are going to be worse.
If you do manage to get into college, expect to pay a whole not more in terms of tuition. Financial aid, forget it.
There’s going to be less police and fire protection. Your local community is going to give you less too, in terms of garbage collection and street repair, maybe even public safety.
That’s because we’re eliminating that revenue sharing your cities have come to depend on. There’s a big budget deficit, and we can’t afford it any more. You’ll also soon be able to expect less in terms of Medicaid. And if you think that social services and foster care are a living nightmare now, they are going to get a lot worse.
No, you didn’t see anybody running on that platform either, because candidates feared that would also drive the voters away. Well, guess what. The election’s been over for a month, and the stark reality is becoming apparent. The outgoing legislature is still in town, trying to rearrange a last few deck chairs on the Titanic before they scamper off for a final paid vacation.
But when the new team gets to Lansing, they’ll face a huge budget deficit for next year, without a dime in the state’s long-depleted rainy day fund and no more federal stimulus money.
So, it is time to get real. There is an anonymous document circulating in Lansing, spelling out ways to cut state spending. It includes privatizing the University of Michigan. Then it would eliminate Medicaid services, and programs from revenue sharing to fire protection grants. Nobody knows who wrote this document, though it was clearly someone who understands state government.
But it is worth studying, because it includes exactly the kind of tough choices the new lawmakers will have to make, and make soon.
Unless they raise some new revenue, we’re going to see a state government that reminds me of what they used to say on the old Star Trek TV series: It’s life, captain, but not as we know it.
And this time, it will be anything but science fiction.
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