BY JEFF GERRITT

DETROIT FREE PRESS COLUMNIST


It’s crazy, but bills that would only allow Detroiters to continue to tax themselves at a higher rate have jacked up more Detroit bashing. One blogger — incredibly called “truthseeker”— compared the legislation to welfare and crack. Gimmeabreak. This law wouldn’t cost anyone anything, except those of us who live in Detroit. One reason it’s needed to keep Detroit solvent is the state’s broken promises. An earlier plan to phase out Detroit’s income tax was based on assurances from the state that revenue sharing would be protected. What a joke.

The state long ago reneged on its 1998 deal to freeze Detroit’s slice of revenue sharing at $333.9 million until 2007. Instead, the state cut revenue sharing, to Detroit and other Michigan cities, by more than $3 billion over the last decade. By 2007, Detroit was getting only $275 million. Since then, the amount has dwindled to $179 million. Revenue sharing is no handout. It’s money communities send to Lansing that the state promised to return.


Continued at: http://www.freep.com/article/20110512/BLOG2505/110512022/Jeff-Gerritt-Allow-Detroit-keep-tool-help-itself-?odyssey=nav|head