10 Facts MI Citizens Need to Know...
Your L.A.C. wants you to know that what you DON'T know CAN hurt you...The following is provided by the Michigan Fiscal Responsibility Project, which has an informative website at: http://www.MiTaxTruth.com
"For too long Michigan citizens have been kept in the dark about our state's fiscal scrisis. The Michigan Fiscal Responsibility Coalition believes that the more facts people hav ,the better they will understand the decisions being made in lansing by their elected representatives...." Read the top 10 facts.
#1 Michigan has cut its general fund budget by 40
percent over the last six years. The state’s general
fund budget – the only piece that the Governor and
Legislature have any real control over – today is 39
percent smaller, adjusted for inflation, than it was in
2000, when John Engler was Governor. It’s 41 percent
smaller than in 1989; it’s 47 percent smaller than in
1978. This despite a steady increase in Michigan’s
population.
#2 Michigan’s political leaders don’t control a $40
billion budget. In reality, the discretionary part of the
state’s budget is $8.27 billion – after inflation, that’s
lower than it was in 1973. The rest of the budget
includes spending on roads (gasoline taxes are automatically
earmarked for roads), on Medicaid (federal
pass through money primarily) and the school aid
fund (set in the constitution). When people say the
state’s overall budget has increased, they are right –
but that entire increase has been driven by an increase
in Medicaid spending financed by federal tax dollars
to care for the poor.
#3 Michigan is not a high-tax state. Michigan’s state and
local taxes – business and individual combined – are
below the national average.
#4 Low-tax states tend to be poor states. Of the 10 poorest
states, measured by per capita income, all have lower
taxes than Michigan, according to U.S. Census data. Of the
10 most prosperous states, only two have lower taxes
than Michigan – and one of those, Colorado, recently
approved revenue enhancements.
#5 College education = prosperity. States with the highest
percentage of their population with college degrees are
the states with the highest per capita income. That
includes Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and
Maryland. States with the lowest percentage of their
population with degrees have the lowest income. Those
include West Virginia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky,
Alabama and Louisiana. Michigan is 34th in the percentage
of its population with a degree.
#6. Cutting state spending means cutting local government
services such as police and fire protection.
Michigan’s revenue sharing system means local governments
suffer when the state budget is cut – and they
have limited ability to raise taxes to make up those
losses. In recent years, state government has cut
payments to local governments by more than $2 billion.
As a result, Michigan today has 1,600 fewer law enforcement
officers and 2,398 fewer fighter fighters than in
2001 – when terrorists reminded us of the need for
vigilance and preparedness.
#7. Cutting state health care funding doesn’t really save
the state or its families’ money – it just drives up
health insurance premiums, eliminates good jobs,
and worsens the health of Michigan residents. Today
about $730 of the health insurance premium paid by a
family of four covers expenses run up at hospitals by
uninsured persons. Every time the state cuts payments
to hospitals and doctors, that figure increases.
#8. Michigan’s budget problems are largely due to tax
cuts, not economic problems. State government
today takes a far smaller piece of each Michigan
family’s budget than in 2000. That year, state government
expenditures were right at the Headlee constitutional
limitation, which says the state cannot spend
more than 9.49 percent of the state’s personal income.
Today, after adjusting for Proposal A, we are $5.2 billion
below that limit, thanks to tax cuts, and we are spending
just 8.0 percent of the state’s personal income on
state government.
#9. Michigan state government employment today is
far smaller than it was just six years ago. Today state
government has 52,259 employees. In 2000, under Gov.
John Engler, we had 61,493 employees. We have fewer
workers today than in 1978.
#10. Michigan citizens believe investment is the key to
economic growth. A recent poll conducted for the
Michigan Fiscal Responsibility Project found 61% of
respondents agreeing that after four years of cuts to
police, fire, roads, higher education and health care, we
can’t afford to cut taxes more.
For more information, visit www.mitaxtruth.com