Governor Granholm has appointed a "bipartisan" panel to address Michigan's budget problems. This is widely seen as a prelude to a push to increase taxes. In addition to the liberal Democrats on the panel, there are liberal Republicans on the panel. The co-chairman is Bill Milliken, the former Michigan governor. Awhile back, the Gazette ran a puff piece on Milliken which noted (favorably) that he "doubled taxes and tripled spending" (or maybe it was "tripled taxes and doubled spending"). I think we know where he stands. Then there's former Congressman Joe Schwarz, who ran for governor in 2002 on a platform of raising taxes. Other non-democrats on the panel include Paul Hillegonds, Dan DeGrow, and Don Gilmer.
Interestingly, there is considerable overlap between this panel and the group "Citizens for Michigan," the group of washed-up liberal politicians who have proposed a number of ways to wreck Michigan's Constitution, including raising taxes. Schwarz, DeGrow, Hillegonds, and Frank Kelley are all members of the group. I guess Granholm knew where to look for sympathetic panelists.
One story that hasn't gotten much attention so far is Granholm's veto of the bill that would have eliminated some government aid to illegal immigrants. The bill had passed the legislature overwhelmingly. So Granholm wants to increase taxes in part to subsidize illegal immigration. Eliminating these subsidies wouldn't solve the entire budget problem, but it sure would be a good place to start.
1 comment:
You are inferring that Granholm wants to increase taxes to support programs for illegal immigrants. Do you have any direct evidence she intends to do so? Perhaps that program will be funded under existing budget allocations and any extra tax revenue will go to other programs. It is the same as my saying: "President Bush wants more money for CIA operations; therefore, President Bush wants taxpayers to fund extraordinary rendition and the torture of detainees. Eliminating these practices would not solve the need to fund the CIA, but it would be a good start."
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