Not a Peep From the Tea Party

To sum up:

Removing tax credits for oil companies: Tax hike.
Removing tax credits for people with children: NOT a tax hike.

And speaking of removing tax credits for people with children and raising Michiganders' taxes...

Wow! It's quite a sight. The outrage, the anger, the united seas of humanity and tri-corn hats protesting Michigan Governor's tax hikes on Michiganders. The Don't Tread on Me flags hoisted high! The....the....complete and utter silence. Seriously...where's the Taxed Enough Already Party?

The TEA Party crowd has been eerily quiet in Michigan considering Republican Governor Rick Snyder just ratcheted up everybody's taxes:

That's not likely to console a taxpaying couple making $55,000 who will lose their homestead credit, deductions for their two kids and will pay a higher tax rate in the future than under the old tax law. That's hardly a unique couple and in 2013 their tax bill will be $739 higher, according to the House Fiscal Agency.

A couple with three children making $110,000, for example, will absorb a tax hit in 2013 of $190, $549 less than the aforementioned couple making half as much.


Or take a retired couple born after 1952 with $53,000 in income and a $4,000 property tax bill. Next year they lose their entire homestead credit and will pay income tax on every dime of their pension. It adds up to a $3,130 tax hit.

Next door a couple, in which the older spouse was born before 1953 but after 1945, also has $48,000 in pension income. And $27,000 in Social Security. They’ll lose some homestead credit as well, but the income tax will apply to only $8,000 of their pension. That's because the first $40,000 is exempted for their year-of-birth group. Their tax increase is $590.

But get this.....these aren't called tax increases.

Why?

Because the State is merely getting rid of Tax Credits and Tax Exemptions.

- Homestead Tax Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Pension exemptions

Michigan conservatives use their removal of tax credits as a technicality to say they never raised taxes.

Which is interesting considering that when Obama suggests removing tax credits to raise Federal revenue in the Debt Ceiling talks, conservatives use THAT as a way to say Obama is going to raise taxes.

If there was consistency, I might actually think Republican leaders have a shred of sincerity.

Snyders Policies Already Costing Michigan Jobs

And the economic carnage from Michigan Governor Rick Snyder begins...A solar plant is relocating from Brighton, Michigan to Portage, Indiana. They're taking with them over 500 jobs. Great news for Indiana, bad news for Michigan...and a direct result of Snyder's new tax policies.

First this

"Let's stop the tax credits"

-- Rick Snyder

Then this...

[Indiana] plans to provide up to $4.2 million in tax credits based on the [solar] company's job creation plan. The Austria-based company plans to invest more than $26 million in the Portage plant, which officials said would help the company meet global demand for solar electronic inverters.

And so, this...

A solar technology company is moving its North American headquarters from Brighton to northwest Indiana.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. said Thursday that Fronius USA will relocate to Portage, Ind., where it plans to lease 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space and create up to 512 jobs by 2016.

Bravo, Michigan conservatives.

Bravo.

So rarely can one make such a direct line from fiscal policy to job losses. But this is a pretty clear case.

Well done, Conservatives.

It seems our reps have convinced themselves that taxes and tax credits actually played a role in Michigan's economic woes over the past several decades...you know...instead of being singularly attached to a crumbling domestic automobile industry.

Granholm and the Dems...and...well...pretty much EVERYBODY in Michigan seems to understand we desperately need to diversify our economy. Our conservative leaders seem to actually think our problem was simultaneously Too High taxation and Too Low taxation (in the case of tax credits).

Here we go again.