You Can't Tax Your Way to Prosperity
"With the recent announcement of Comerica's relocation to Texas, the hemorrhaging of Michigan businesses continues. Astonishingly, instead of taking bold steps to make Michigan more competitive and attract investment, Gov. Jennifer Granholm's plan to end the mass exodus of employers is to raise taxes on them. Michigan is indeed in a debilitating economic crisis, but no state has ever taxed its way into prosperity."
From a commentary in yesterday's Detroit News titled "Michigan can't tax its way to prosperity," by Jonathan Williams, a Michigan native and economist at the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Michigan currently ranks #51 for state unemployment rates, at 6.9% in January, a full 1/2 percentage point above #50 (S. Carolina and Alaska are tied at 6.4%).
2 Comments:
"Gov. John Engler has had more impact on the lives of Michiganians over the past decade than any other single person, and his deep imprint will be evident well into the new century."
The Detroit News, April 9, 2001
This imprint of Gov. John Engler is what Michigan is living right now. I am no fan of Gov. Granholm; I don't feel that she has done anything in her time to help Michigan. But, Gov. Granholm inherited this state. Michigan was just at the breaking point when she took office. The 32 tax cuts that were enacted in the Engler administration have taken their shape in the present Michigan economy.
"You Can't Tax Your Way to prosperity"... Gov. Engler used the other approach to get Michigan in the position it is in now.
Obviously, the past tax cuts did nothing for Michigan either.
Maybe, he should have said you can't spend then tax your way to prosperity. Rather than use any of the enhanced revenues that the tax cuts brought in to reduce the governmental burden, it looks like they decided to hire bureaucrats. The Tax Foundation shows them at 26th in 2003 and 28th in 2006 for business friendliness. I suspect that the Tax Foundation doesn't adequately measure anti-growth laws since they have Oregon at #10 and we hate capitalism here in Eugene.
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