The Pertinent Anachronism is "CYA"

All the blustering and bloviating in the legislature in Lansing amounted to nothing. If it were within my power I would ask for the resignation of almost every one of them. I would also extend a special request to our governor. According to the WCTA poll thus far 76% of those who voted would sign to recall their legislator if they voted for a tax increase. We hope that they will make the effort and do just that.

The worst part of all this is that our elected officials have no respect for us. They pat themselves on the back for making deals which would have the least political impact on them. They deserve to be confronted on their lack of concern for the future of this state. Even the lobbyists, who think they have won, have not. If there are less people, there are less teachers. If there are more taxes, there is less business. If there are fewer jobs, there are less people. If there are less people, there is less revenue. The spiral will continue and will be repeated over and over again.

This legislature has missed an opportunity to turn Michigan's economy around. They have failed to uphold the constitution which they swore to uphold. They have caved to a governor who talks down to her constituents and can out and out lie with a straight face. As she awards a multi million dollar no bid contract to her friend or takes trips abroad at taxpayer expense to bring back handfuls of jobs, hundreds of thousands have lost jobs to this continued policy without hope of recovery. Notice I have not let the republicans off on this issue. They are enablers. They are part of the wheeling and dealing.

They passed a replacement for the Single business tax ,which was to be revenue neutral, with the Michigan Business Tax that is expected to bring in $750 million more in revenue. They expanded the sales taxes on to some services. Wait. It will not be long before we will be right back to the same place. They will not have enough money and we will revisit the value added tax or an increase in sales tax.

It is becoming more and more obvious that the taxpayers must come together and stay together no matter what party or political persuasion or we will become more crippled than we are. We need a constitutional amendment to clarify and restrict these politicians from foolishly spending so much of our money. We need a term limited, part-time legislature so that they will be harder for lobbyist to get at and more available to us. We need competent legislators who do not think that it takes more than six years to learn their job. We need statesmen who reflects the concerns of their constituent and if there is something we have wrong, explain honestly and not ignore us.

The status quo will not do. Join us.

Rose Bogaert, Chair
Wayne County Taxpayers Association, Inc.