Letter to the Editor: What is the best use of Michigan’s current $20-billion budget surplus?
Kenneth Peterson, Letter to the Editor, 04/06/2022
Editor,
Governor Whitmer is supporting Michigan families by proposing a budget that will:
Roll back the tax on retirement income for seniors, a tax that was put in place by former Governor Snyder and the Republican-controlled state legislature. This rollback will save seniors an average of $1000 a year
Provide a $400 refund to all drivers of Michigan-insured vehicles from a current $5-billion Michigan Insurance surplus.
Triple the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for working families to pull 22,000 Michiganders out of poverty and deliver 730,000 households an average additional refund of $350/yr. Former Governor Snyder and the Republican legislature previously slashed the EITC benefit for families in 2011 to cut taxes on big corporations.
Provide additional funds for SNAP food recipients. This assistance will provide at least an addition $95/mo. to help approximately 700,000 Michigan households.
Republican Legislators, on the other hand, have advanced a budget with huge tax breaks for the wealthy and a 2-billion-dollar giveaway to rich corporations while making painful cuts to public schools, leaving holes in our road repair budget, and cutting community revenue sharing, which supports our local police departments. Small businesses would get virtually nothing.
Michigan is sitting on a tax surplus while average people are struggling to get by. Governor Whitmer and Democratic legislators are pushing to put money back into the pockets of the hardworking taxpayers who earned it. Please remember this when you cast your votes this fall.
Kenneth Peterson
MAJ USA (Ret.)
Buchanan
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