For over a decade Michigan has attempted to cut its way out of budget deficits and implemented one-time, short-term ‘solutions’ to a growing structural fiscal crisis. With the state’s fiscal year to begin on October 1, time is dwindling for balancing the ever-decreasing budget whose shortfall is now nearly $3 billion.
The Michigan Senate has proposed budget cuts that would drastically reduce or eliminate health and human services that many Michigan residents rely on for safety, health, and quality of life:
- Adult Medicaid beneficiaries would continue to be left without dental care
- The provision of immunizations and infectious disease control would be diminished, endangering everyone’s health and the ability to manage a statewide pandemic
- The “Meals on Wheels” program would be eliminated for thousands of Michigan’s elderly
- State services for veterans would no longer be available
- Police and fire protection would diminish due to layoffs
- Parks would close
- Michigan school class sizes, college tuition, health insurance rates, and the number of criminals on the street would increase
This can all be avoided, however, if the state would increase its revenues rather than implement additional cuts. According to a press release of the Michigan Fiscal Responsibility Project, Michigan’s tax burden since 2000 has decreased 23%—that means less of Michigan’s personal income is going to state government. At the same time, unemployment has skyrocketed. This proves that cutting taxes does not improve the state’s economy.
Michigan Primary Care Association has joined a growing number of education, labor, and social service agencies to protest more budget cuts and urge state lawmakers to adopt a new tax structure. This group launched A Better Michigan Future campaign at the State Capitol on Wednesday to urge Governor Granholm and state lawmakers to:
- Close tax loopholes for businesses to generate more than $600 million a year
- Expand the state’s sales tax to include “luxury and nonessential” services (e.g. entertainment, recreation) to raise up to $1.65 billion
- Reinstate inheritance taxes to raise over $100 million
- Modernize the 1966 beer tax of 2 cents per 12 ounces up to 6 cents per 12 ounces to generate $90 million
- Seek voter approval for a graduated income tax that would raise about $600 million a year
The state’s dire economic crisis will only grow deeper if bold, immediate changes are not implemented now to address the growing structural collapse. We need a budget that is fiscally responsible, funds critical services, supports jobs, strengthens the economy, helps struggling families, and prepares our state for the future.
