Tax and Spend Experts

The membership of Gov. Granholm’s special commission on the budget reads like a meeting of tax increasers anonymous. As for bi-partisan, they belong to the party of tax and spend.

Lets start with the best known Republican, Gov. Milliken. He really is bi-partisan. He supported Dem. John Kerry in the last election for president. When he was the governor, he let us drink PCBs in our milk rather than chance a cut to state revenue.

Next we have Gov. James Jobs Jobs Jobs Blanchard. When he was Governor., he gave us a 38% increase in our income tax and caused the recall of two senators who supported him.
Former Rep. Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow we believe never met an increase in taxes for education, good or bad, that he didn’t support. He also lost the support of his party for his attempt to run for Attorney General.

Former Dem. Attorney General Frank Kelly, had a long run in office and knew how to play politics. He also was one of the main reasons there were so many violations of the Headlee Amendment allowed. (Article IX Sec. 26-32 of the State Constitution)
The list goes on. If Governor Granholm thinks those of us who have been around for a while thinks this is anything but making someone else responsible for her decision to raise taxes, she has another think coming.

Raising taxes should not be a consideration. Unlike in the past , the auto industry will never come back to its glory days in this state nor bail us out of this mess. We must look to other states to see how they have succeeded. We must diversify and compete with other states. We have to give our graduates a reason to stay in this state instead of leave for another.

In desparation to bring some sense to the issue we created an audio public service announcement on our website in hopes that people will forward it other in their address book. You can also contact your legislators from our website. I am hoping that others will take the time to do so as well.

An Appealing Year

If you are thinking about selling your home anytime soon, this is definitely the year to appeal your property tax assessment. The housing market across the state is tanking. Foreclosures are up for nonpayment of mortgages. They are also up for non payment of taxes. Since the State has changed the rules to allow foreclosure after two years of nonpayment of taxes, many people have lost their lifetime investment due to job loss or wage cuts. This is a buyer’s market. Home prices are dropping so they can be sold and be affordable. Tax increases are expected to be requested at all levels of government. (The worst solution possible)
Many people chose to ignore their right to appeal their SEV, which should be half of the true cash value, because they are being taxed at the Taxable Value which was capped with the passage of Proposal A in 1994. This limited the taxable value increases to the rate of inflation or 5% which ever is less. If you have been living in your home since Proposal A passed, you are likely paying more than 35% less in taxes than someone who just purchased a similar home. Remember, the assessment cap is removed when the property changes ownership. New owners are stuck paying taxes based on the State Equalized Value.
Don’t forget, if you live in the city of Detroit, you must first appeal to the Board of Assessors before mid February to appeal to the Board of Review in March. Everyone else should call their city or township and inquire when their Board of Review will be meeting. Make sure you do the work necessary to make a successful appeal. You should be able to get sales that have occurred in your area from a local real estate office or the city assessor. You should also be able to see the SEV of other houses in your area and the worksheet they keep on your home to insure accuracy of information.
If you need information on how to appeal you can contact us by phone, mail (include your phone number) or online.

Cobo Conspiricy

It seems like every two years Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit suggests the expansion of Cobo Hall. This year he got his buddy County Executive Robert Ficano to do the deed for him. Its not that the idea is such a bad one, it is that the taxpayers never seem to get relief from the Cobo expansion project. They don’t seem to care what laws they break, what rights they trample or how much the taxpayer pays to achieve their goals.
At least the project has gotten less ambitious. At one time they wanted to build a new facility and attach a hotel without any idea what they were going to do with the old one. The price tag under Ficano seems to have dropped some as well, but we still have to consider that the bonds from the 1989 expansion will not be paid for until 2015. That has not been the only costs assumed by the taxpayers. We have been paying through Downtown Development, Tax Increment Financing and local taxes.
Of course, any new project must start with an Authority made up of individuals who have not been elected by anyone. Then, they are authorized by the legislature and appointed by some elected official(s). The State seems to want to be involved on this project too and will be represented if it flies. I think this is so the $16.2 million grant that was given to Cobo Hall in 2006 will not have to be given this year but rather extracted from taxpayers as is customary in a different manner.
It is proposed that this non elected body be given the authority to bond for this plan to the tune of $968 million for the 270 sq. ft. expansion. We should be grateful that this amount includes paying off the existing bond balance. Cobo Hall would then be turned over to private companies to be managed. Of course there is no guarantee that they will not buy $500,000 worth of artwork like the mayor did in 2002 when they were expected to lose millions of dollars.
Article IX Section 25 of the State Constitution says we should have the opportunity to vote on such matters. This is something they conveniently forget all to frequently and it certainly has not stopped them in the past. To insure that the counties and the legislature approve the plan, $233 million from the 22 year extension of the of the hotel and liquor tax would be split up between the 83 counties.
Few of these projects ever live up to their expectations (Pontiac Silverdome, Poletown Plant, first Cobo expansion, etc.). Cobo Hall loses tens of millions of dollars each year which leaves the taxpayer holding the bag. Even if they expand Cobo Hall there is no guarantee that the massive expendatures will produce the desired results.
If business is expected to benefit so much by this expansion, then they should be willing to foot the bill. Businesses are not the only ones who have been ravaged in this state. Taxpayers pay all the bills as consumers, even those imposed on business. With all the problems on the state and local level, more taxes for a car show or possibly a few more conventions makes no sense as a solution.

Blog, blog , blog , blog , blog!

While everyone is busy analyzing what has happened this election season, I would like to give praise to the bloggers. Both sides have their opinion about what happened but it is the bloggers who gave life to the dead. They are the ones who made the media readers more careful about what they said for fear of being exposed for their bias or errors. It is they who took to task the arguments and gave them a clearer or different perspective. Even those who do not have access to the internet were exposed to a more thoughtful discussion as a result of the bloggers.

Some of you are full of beans, but that only stimulates others to respond. Bloggers are unmerciful in their judgement of some and forgiving in your retribution of others. They are big enough to be inclusive and diverse enough to cause others to be conclusive. I for one am grateful to have someone out there watching my back against these very smooth people who represent and inform me. If we can maintain a tollerance for other opinions and truth, we might make this a better place to live.

This land is my land

In Michigan, Proposal 4 on the November ballot gives new meaning to the definition " this land is my land". How did we get here in the first place? How did we allow government to take our property as if it was theirs to do with as they choose? How did we allow them to give our property to private concerns for private benefit and to increase government coffers? For that matter, how do we allow government to take our homes, which we may have worked for our entire life for back taxes, after just two years, in a deplorable economy of their making? "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".

Proposal 4 is the first step in putting the people of Michigan back in charge. We hope the people of Michigan have the good judgment to Vote Yes on Proposal 4 and remind those in government that the people of this state are soverign.

Failure To Educate

The Michigan budget for 2007 contains $15.9 Billion for education. That is 37% of the State Budget. You would think that with that much money we could get better results. Maybe that is because a good number of our teachers, certainly not all, are more concerned about themselves then they are about their students and their job performance.

Given the language of Proposal 5, which mandates inflationary guarantees to education and limits local district responsibility for pensions, we can assume that must be the case. The Michigan Education Association, who was the major impetus behind the initiative, worded the proposal so that 2/3 of the increase will go to teacher pensions the first year and more each year as the state liability grows faster than the rate of inflation. Nowhere is there an indication that the money would be used to improve educational quality or accountability.

You would think we would learn that when they say "It's for the Kids" we sould put up our guard. Experience should teach us that it is usually not the case.

Best deception money can buy

We have been receiving calls concerning literature and calls that have been received from the Citizens for Education Committee . It is an indication of the kind of war chest being used against taxpayers. We wish we had a penny for every dollar that was spent producing, designing and distributing the literature that is very appealing to the eye and includes the, makes you want to hug them, pictures of happy students. Actually, the students in the pictures don't look like they need a thing. They have involved teachers. They look like they have the tools to learn. They also look like they are having a great time learning.

Unfortunately, this has very little to do with Proposal 5 which advocates maditory increases for education. In fact, the proponents of Proposal 5 are running a blatantly deceptive and misleading campaign indicating that the funding will improve our schools and make college more affordable. In reality, Proposal 5 never mentions student achievement or lower tuition. In fact, over 2/3 ($380 million) of the proposed $565 Million is designated for teacher pensions.

While the proposal caps pension responsibility at the district level, Proposal 5 transfers the responsibility to the State. The State's projected annual costs associated with the required retirement contributions will rise faster than inflation. To meet the education funding guarantees, adjustments will have to be made within existing resources or taxes must increase to raise general revenues. As a result of this, local districts could show less restraint when negotiating contracts.

If you want to keep the smile on your face Proposal 5 is not the answer.

Monkey business

The effort to place the SOS Michigan proposal on the November ballot is over. The Michigan Supreme Court has refused to consider the case after the ruling by the Court of Appeals. What isn't over is the determination to have the same or a similar proposal on a future ballot.

While I was attempting to get affidavits from those who had mistakenly signed twice for submittion to the court, I encountered some interesting situations. My first attempt was an address where the signator had died in January and signed the petition twice the following May. I was able to get the next two people to say that they had not signed twice intentionally. The next two addresses did not exist. The streets exist but the addresses did not.

Who would benefit from trying to sabotage our signatures? Certainly not SOS! That is why they collected what they thought would be a significant amount of signatures to compensate for the possibility of error - more even then other petition drives which had made it to the ballot.

Who would find it necessary to harass people who were collecting signatures? Who would have enough resources to copy over 500,000 signatures to a data base in such a short time to find enough duplicate signatures that they would not normally expect to find? Who would not want the voters of the State of Michigan have the opportunity to vote on the issue? Who would not want the people in charge? Because of the 65% approval rating among Michigan voters, special interest might have more to gain by stopping the vote from going forward.

We are smarter and wiser as a result of this effort. We will not let it happen again.

Don't make the same mistake

Don't make the same mistake in Michigan as they did in Colorado. The K-16 proposal can only hurt Michigan's economy. What is really significant is that Proposal 5 transfers primary responsibility to fund pensions to the state and does not make any provisions for decline in the economy.

According to the Citizens Research Council, "Over two-thirds of the initial additional costs to the State from Proposal 2006-05 arise from the provision to cap employer retirement contributions. This cost component represents a new financial obligation to the state budget and will steadily increase each fiscal year. The State's projected annual costs associated with the required retirement contributions will rise faster than inflation, thereby requiring policymakers to reconfigure state finances to meet the education funding guarantees within existing resources or to raise general revenues. "

As a result of this, local districts would have the opportunity to show less restraint when negotiating contracts.

65% Support SOSmichigan

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. – Nearly two-thirds of Michigan voters plan this November to vote "yes" on Proposal 6, a statewide ballot measure that would eliminate state legislators' taxpayer-financed lifetime pensions and limit increases in state government spending to the annual rate of inflation plus state population growth unless voters approve larger spending hikes, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006609040341
Sixty-five percent of likely voters surveyed last week responded "yes," the Free Press reported, when asked by pollsters if they would support "a proposal that would do two things: First, halt any future contributions by state government to pensions for state legislators, and second, require voter approval for increases in state and local government spending above the rate of inflation."

Rose Bogaert of Dearborn Heights, Wayne County chairman of the YES on Proposal 6 campaign, said voters "are clearly fed up with politicians in Lansing and want more say in how our tax dollars are spent.""Just eliminating lifetime pensions for politicians will save taxpayers over $800,000 a year," Bogaert said. "Beyond that, Proposal 6 puts the people in charge by putting a reasonable, modest limit on how much government spending can increase every year and requiring voter approval first before politicians can spend above that reasonable limit."Bogaert said voters also agree with the Michigan chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, which endorsed the measure after 78 percent of Michigan NFIB members responding to an internal poll supported a "yes" vote on Proposal 6. "This poll indicates that voters overwhelmingly understand, as small business leaders have pointed out, that limiting the growth of government spending and taxes will help Michigan create and attract the new jobs we desperately need right now to support our families."NFIB/Michigan State Director Charlie Owens said in a news release endorsing the proposal, “I think small business owners sense a direct link between our state and local governments’ tendency to tax and spend at a higher level than most other states, and the fact that businesses are fleeing Michigan for better economic climates.” http://www.nfib.com/object/IO_29724.html
The poll also found that 21 percent said they would oppose the proposal, the Free Press reported, while 14 percent said they were unsure. The poll was conducted last week by Selzer & Co. Inc. of Des Moines, Iowa, which surveyed 803 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.Last week, the Michigan Secretary of State's office found that 80 percent of the over 500,000 signatures gathered statewide in support of Proposal 6 are those of valid registered voters, far more than the 317,000 required to place the proposal on the November general election ballot.The bipartisan state Senate Fiscal Agency reported earlier this month that Proposal 6 will prohibit pensions for future members of the Legislature, saving taxpayers $837,000 a year. www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa
The proposal would also allow state government spending to increase each year, but limit that increase to no more than the annual rate of inflation plus the annual percentage of Michigan’s population growth. Lawmakers could increase spending above and beyond the allowed increase limit by placing a higher spending proposal on the ballot for voter approval. The proposal would also require local voter approval of all new city and county fees, assessments, and long-term indebtedness. The bipartisan Senate Fiscal Agency reported that beyond the $837,000 annual savings on lawmakers' pensions, "it is difficult to suggest any other direct fiscal impact that passage of the constitutional amendment would have on the budgets of state or local units of government.”The increase in this year’s state budget over the previous year, the agency reported, is actually less than the inflation and population growth limit the measure would establish. Supporters say that proves how reasonable the proposed limit is, and that its primary effect will be to ensure spending increases remain at a reasonable rate after Michigan's economy recovers.

Parasites persist

The parasites came out of the woodwork today. Defend Michigan, a conglomerate of organizations of which you would be hard pressed to find many without their hand in taxpayer pockets, have filed challenges to the over 501,000 signatures submitted to the Secretary of States Office by SOS Michigan. They have hired Elections Attorney John Pirish to argue that there are problems with the language and the signatures. Defend Michigan's Spokesman Rodger Martin says they are "quite shocking".

A little less drama and more accuracy would be more to our liking. We are always suspect of someone opposed to something who is shocked by it's existence. What they are deadly afraid of is giving you the opportunity to vote. Heaven forbid that they and elected officials should be held accountable for the money they receive from the taxpayers or that elected officials should have to ask for money if they require more than allotted.

SOS Spokesperson Scott Tillman has it right when he says they don't want the people to vote or to put the people in charge. SOS does not cut the budget it simply limits future increases to the rate of inflation and population growth.

Stop K-16 Mandate

It is time to get serious about stopping the K-16 Mandate. This proposed constitutional change will be on the November ballot. It offers no guarantee that education will be improved and there is no accountability anywhere in the proposal. We elect individuals to decide how our money is best spent and we should hold them accountable for how they spend it.

We, however, should be able to set the limits of their revenue. It is their responsibility to provide us with the information for any amount needed in excess of those limits and allow us to decide through the ballot if it is justified.

August 20, 2006

Welcome to the new WCTA web Blog.

I just returned from an Americans For Limited Government conference in Chicago. The Michigan delegation was very excited and upbeat about the support they are receiving from Michigan voters for the Stop OverSpending Constitutional Amendment. While the petitons have not yet been certified, they are more then confident that they have enough valid signatures to place it on the November ballot. They have turned in more than 503,000 signatures and only 317,000 valid signatures are needed.