2008 Woodie Awards
Legislators avoid another state shutdown
Michigan budget resolved, many unhappy with tax
By: Maria Spicketts
Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Signed, sealed, delivered: Michigan's budget crisis is over.
Legislators avoided a second government shutdown Wednesday morning in as many months by finalizing a budget deal.
While the budget may be complete, it is not a success, said Bill Ballenger, Inside Michigan Politics editor and former Griffin Endowed Chair of American Government.
"It's a poor quality budget. In my view, it is barely hanging together," he said. "We will need some fine tuning."
This also is not a lasting budget, Ballenger said.
"They will go through the same thing next spring," he said. "In the court of public opinion, this budget agreement took too long to come together. But this is not unprecedented."
Rep. Bill Caul, R-Mount Pleasant, said a lot of time was spent ironing things out with legislative leadership.
"Even though the legislature was in session, 80 to 90 percent (of the legislators) were waiting for details from leaders," Caul said. "What we got Tuesday and Wednesday was the actual budget we voted on. The leadership are the ones who discuss what is going to be done."
The combination of $430 million of cuts was made along with a $1.3 billion tax increase passed in early October.
Leslee Fritz, spokeswoman for the state budget office, said Gov. Jennifer Granholm is pleased with the new step for the Michigan economy.
"We avoided kicking people out of health care, and are keeping the economy competitive," she said. "While these are cuts no one wanted to make, we needed to take these steps to live within our means."
A petition to repeal the sales tax could be presented to the legislature, and if they do not act on the petition, the issue will go on the ballot, Ballenger said.
If an initiative, currently in discussion, is approved to repeal the sales tax, the state will have a deficit of $600-$700 million, Caul said.
The business community is furious about the services tax, Ballenger said.
"There is tremendous amount of anger about the new business tax," he said.
An anti-tax initiative on the ballot the same day legislators are running for office would certainly not make them happy, he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
news@cm-life.com
Legislators avoided a second government shutdown Wednesday morning in as many months by finalizing a budget deal.
While the budget may be complete, it is not a success, said Bill Ballenger, Inside Michigan Politics editor and former Griffin Endowed Chair of American Government.
"It's a poor quality budget. In my view, it is barely hanging together," he said. "We will need some fine tuning."
This also is not a lasting budget, Ballenger said.
"They will go through the same thing next spring," he said. "In the court of public opinion, this budget agreement took too long to come together. But this is not unprecedented."
Rep. Bill Caul, R-Mount Pleasant, said a lot of time was spent ironing things out with legislative leadership.
"Even though the legislature was in session, 80 to 90 percent (of the legislators) were waiting for details from leaders," Caul said. "What we got Tuesday and Wednesday was the actual budget we voted on. The leadership are the ones who discuss what is going to be done."
The combination of $430 million of cuts was made along with a $1.3 billion tax increase passed in early October.
Leslee Fritz, spokeswoman for the state budget office, said Gov. Jennifer Granholm is pleased with the new step for the Michigan economy.
"We avoided kicking people out of health care, and are keeping the economy competitive," she said. "While these are cuts no one wanted to make, we needed to take these steps to live within our means."
A petition to repeal the sales tax could be presented to the legislature, and if they do not act on the petition, the issue will go on the ballot, Ballenger said.
If an initiative, currently in discussion, is approved to repeal the sales tax, the state will have a deficit of $600-$700 million, Caul said.
The business community is furious about the services tax, Ballenger said.
"There is tremendous amount of anger about the new business tax," he said.
An anti-tax initiative on the ballot the same day legislators are running for office would certainly not make them happy, he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
news@cm-life.com
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