Heartless Attempt to Patch Roads by Making the Working Poor of Detroit & Michigan Pay

[downtownguy]

And in 2014, all of the legislators who voted for the bill were turned out of office in a massive landslide as the working poor, lower income earners, and pensioners retaliated?

No. Because those darn poor people did a lousy job with with their PACs and corporate contributions.

[Kevgoblue]

We must take from the poor to fix our crappy roads. Well this weekend I got caught up in some repairs on the Lodge. Apparently they're replacing some pieces of concrete between Meyers and I94.
Is it just me, or didn't we as taxpayers just pay a lot of money to have this freeway totally rebuilt just 4 or 5 years ago? Is this the quality of work we're paying for? No wonder our roads always suck. And our funding is always insufficient.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Yet when the third richest man in the state, worth more than $3 BILLION plays the system to get a $240 MILLION subsidy for his new arena, he's called a shrewd business person.

Few conservatives would seem to call it what it is - WEALTH REDISTRIBUTION. When the funds are redistributed UP, its "investment."

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Instead of everybody grappling for a skinny piece of a stale old pie, can we just make more pies?

That is to say, REALLY make Michigan an attractive place to do business. Not just time-release band-aids on bad policies. I mean truly scare the beejesus out of Texas [[where I now live), Tennessee, etc. Sorry to say, but Michigan has a reputation of being pro-labor and anti-business, to the point of running businesses out of town. What business wants to relocate to that environment? We used to have so many small businesses in Detroit; it's become a nightmare just to start one now.

BTW: Laugh at Mississippi if you want, but they're laughing at "y'all" all the way to the bank. Biloxi is the hot new vacation destination in the South. Their slot machines are loose and their beaches are beautiful. We went there in 2013 and they told us they got fed up with the good-old-boy way of doing nothing and elected pro-business candidates. I was there in 1996 and what a difference!

I wonder how Mississippi would fare if they didn't hoover up so much in federal dollars? One of the many "tax hating" red states that are addicted to federal funds - getting $2.34 back for every $1 sent to D.C.

http://wallethub.com/edu/states-most...vernment/2700/

[Wesley Mouch]

Yet when the third richest man in the state, worth more than $3 BILLION plays the system to get a $240 MILLION subsidy for his new arena, he's called a shrewd business person.

Don't blame the business person. That is a shrewd move.

Blame the government. They have no business granting tax abatements whatsoever to anyone. They should be banned 100% everywhere for everyone, including non-profits.

[ABetterDetroit]

Instead of everybody grappling for a skinny piece of a stale old pie, can we just make more pies?

That is to say, REALLY make Michigan an attractive place to do business. Not just time-release band-aids on bad policies. I mean truly scare the beejesus out of Texas [[where I now live), Tennessee, etc. Sorry to say, but Michigan has a reputation of being pro-labor and anti-business, to the point of running businesses out of town. What business wants to relocate to that environment? We used to have so many small businesses in Detroit; it's become a nightmare just to start one now.

Kathy is spot on right here. It is a very competitive world, whether you like it or not that's just the way it is. Corporations and businesses equal jobs. If you chase them out of the state they will take their jobs and go where they are wanted and other states want those jobs badly so either compete or lose the jobs, simple as that. Seems to me that it should be obvious to anyone that has lived here for a while that the direct result of job loss is devestating.

Back to the topic of the earned income credit, it is nothing but a patch to a FUBAR personal tax system in this state. A needed patch to some folks but still a temporary patch that can always be messed with. What makes little sense to me is that needed tax reform for business was executed and nothing is being done on the personal tax system Michigan uses. It's so bad that on the proposal to hike the sales tax last May even the Governor said "this wasn't my first choice" and the rest of the politicians said "this is crap legislation but it is the best we will get". How stupid can they be? Fix the personal tax system just like you did the business tax, idiots.

[MikeM]

Don't worry, it will all trickle down.

My partner and I have actually talked about spending a big chunk of the summer in Michigan, but for reasons such as the political climate we have decided to spend more of it elsewhere.

Oh my, oh my! The political climate is too much to take! You act like this is Caracas and the embassy is on fire. If there's anything I'm totally unaware of when I'm summer vacationing, it's the political climate. You take a newspaper to the beach?

[softailrider]

We must take from the poor to fix our crappy roads. Well this weekend I got caught up in some repairs on the Lodge. Apparently they're replacing some pieces of concrete between Meyers and I94.
Is it just me, or didn't we as taxpayers just pay a lot of money to have this freeway totally rebuilt just 4 or 5 years ago? Is this the quality of work we're paying for? No wonder our roads always suck. And our funding is always insufficient.

I don't know why more isn't said about the quality of repairs / rebuilding done to the roads around here for the last 40 years. The fix the same roads every few years. To me, it's unbelievable.

[Lowell]

Don't blame the business person. That is a shrewd move.

Blame the government. They have no business granting tax abatements whatsoever to anyone. They should be banned 100% everywhere for everyone, including non-profits.

Sad but true. It's completely legal. They are just taking advantage of the law that is there as much as a working stiff with kids claiming the EIC.

It does however beg the broader question of big money influence in creating those laws and corporate welfare agencies. The little guy has very few and far less powerful advocates. That explains why the outcry over the proposed ending of the film credit in the same bill is so much louder.

[Wesley Mouch]

Kathy is spot on right here. It is a very competitive world, whether you like it or not that's just the way it is. ...

The 'inequality' racket is more about jealousy than economics. Many don't understand that you can increase the number of 'pies'. So instead they complain about how many pies someone else has baked. Better to get baking. Detroit really could stand to learn this.

Back to the topic of the earned income credit, it is nothing but a patch to a FUBAR personal tax system in this state. ...

EITC is a fine method for income redistribution. Probably the best. Its a minimum wage that doesn't benefit the wealthy working retirees with pension income. I don't understand your resistance. Of course I'm sure the tax system could be improved too. But that doesn't mean EITC is a bad idea.

You might want to do more reading on 'negative income taxes'. It seems much better to me than thousands of overlapping and confusing entitlements.

[bailey]

Oh my, oh my! The political climate is too much to take! You act like this is Caracas and the embassy is on fire. If there's anything I'm totally unaware of when I'm summer vacationing, it's the political climate. You take a newspaper to the beach?

Well, when your vacation plans go awry when you show up to check into your b&b or cottage rental and they refuse to rent the reserved accommodations AND try to charge you the cancellation fee because you're two men sharing "single" accommodations.... you'd pay attention to where you spend your disposable income.

In Michigan and 29 other states, it's perfectly legal to do that and our Governor and legislature just doubled down on what levels of state sanctioned discrimination gay people can be subjected to here. Just sayin...people notice.

[313WX]

I wonder how Mississippi would fare if they didn't hoover up so much in federal dollars? One of the many "tax hating" red states that are addicted to federal funds - getting $2.34 back for every $1 sent to D.C.

http://wallethub.com/edu/states-most...vernment/2700/

They wouldn't fare at all. Mississippi has the lowest GDP of any state in the country.

If that's what Michigan is striving to be [[a non-productive backwater), then I probably should pack my bags now...

[Hermod]

Back to the topic of the earned income credit, it is nothing but a patch to a FUBAR personal tax system in this state. A needed patch to some folks but still a temporary patch that can always be messed with. What makes little sense to me is that needed tax reform for business was executed and nothing is being done on the personal tax system Michigan uses. It's so bad that on the proposal to hike the sales tax last May even the Governor said "this wasn't my first choice" and the rest of the politicians said "this is crap legislation but it is the best we will get". How stupid can they be? Fix the personal tax system just like you did the business tax, idiots.

What would be your suggestions to "fix" the personal tax system [[I guess you mean the state income tax).

[Gpwrangler]

We must take from the poor to fix our crappy roads. Well this weekend I got caught up in some repairs on the Lodge. Apparently they're replacing some pieces of concrete between Meyers and I94. Is it just me, or didn't we as taxpayers just pay a lot of money to have this freeway totally rebuilt just 4 or 5 years ago? Is this the quality of work we're paying for? No wonder our roads always suck. And our funding is always insufficient.

There's plenty of work going on already without more tax.

[Bobl]

Michigan GOP wishes to raise taxes on the poor, eliminating the earned income credit for the working poor, to pay for road repair.
Eliminating the credit "helps ensure a flat and fair system to ensure investment in our state and to ensure that we are growing our economy," said Rep. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton. He added that the EITC "is how our state used to do business — handouts, giveaways."
He did not explain the inconsistency of his statement after a billionaire who gamed the system was given a quarter billion dollars to build a hockey arena.
And, they accuse others of "class warfare"!

[Jimaz]

... Rep. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton ... added that the EITC "is how our state used to do business — handouts, giveaways."
He did not explain the inconsistency of his statement after a billionaire who gamed the system was given a quarter billion dollars to build a hockey arena.
And, they accuse others of "class warfare"!

Hey! If you look between your legs, EVERYTHING'S UPSIDE DOWN!
So we don't have to be honest!
Kiss my ass, you peons.

[Wesley Mouch]

Michigan GOP wishes to raise taxes on the poor, eliminating the earned income credit for the working poor, to pay for road repair.
Eliminating the credit "helps ensure a flat and fair system to ensure investment in our state and to ensure that we are growing our economy," said Rep. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton. He added that the EITC "is how our state used to do business — handouts, giveaways."
He did not explain the inconsistency of his statement after a billionaire who gamed the system was given a quarter billion dollars to build a hockey arena.
And, they accuse others of "class warfare"!

So Nesbitt does not believe in government handouts. I like the EITC, but he doesn't. We disagree. There's room for diversity in our State. He simply has a different opinion about how we should run our government. That does not make him evil. Yet in my opinion, he is wrong.

[ABetterDetroit]

What would be your suggestions to "fix" the personal tax system [[I guess you mean the state income tax).

Yes, I would change the flat individual income tax. I know it is sacred to some but I would argue that in a very large majority of the years since it was instituted in 1967 Michigan has failed to grow its economic base sufficiently in comparison to many other states. But what do I know, maybe the Feds will show up and build all our roads! They did have enough cash to bail out our largest corporation in the state and throw some serious coin at tearing down worthless dangerous abandoned homes. We really should send Thank you cards. Then there's charity. They build the nicest new public places for us like the river walk. And it goes with out saying that our largest city's bankruptcy would have been much worse without the donations from charities. Maybe we don't have to figure out our own problems at all because someone else will step in and handle them for us.

[Hermod]

Yes, I would change the flat individual income tax. I know it is sacred to some but I would argue that in a very large majority of the years since it was instituted

Is there still a Michigan "Intangibles Tax" for high earners of dividend and interest income? That adds 3.5% to Mich Inc Tax rate for the wealthy.