In a clip that has been vehemently passed around Facebook this past week, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is seen weighing in on Gov. Rick Snyder and his new tax proposals and his subseqent efforts to revamp the state’s emergency financial manager law.
The bottom line to take away from that clip: Michigan is indeed screwed and democracy as we know it is being kicked to the curb. (You can watch the full clip below.)
Now, if we could all take a minute to collectively breath and shake off the hysteria, I’d like to share today’s columns from the Freep and Detroit News that address the two issues of business taxes and the financial manager law.
On cutting business taxes
The Detroit News editorial board points out that, in the midst of all the shouting and ballyhoo, a major point has fallen on deaf ears. Cutting business taxes and simplifying the Michigan Business Tax is meant to create jobs and put Michiganders back to work.
Adding jobs to reduce Michigan’s 10.1 percent unemployment rate — that’s the official rate; the real number is likely much higher — is as crucial a priority as providing a quality education, maintaining roads, manning prisons or any other function of state government.
What that means is that the plan shouldn’t be viewed as a tax break for business as much as a bailout for Michigan’s beleaguered workers in the form of more jobs and better pay.
Read the full editorial here.
On the hysteria surrounding financial managers
The Freep’s Stephen Henderson points out the weaknesses of the state’s current “rubric” for dealing with these types of emergencies which explains why cities like Pontiac and school districts like DPS were so far gone by the time emergency financial management stepped in.
For years, local governments and school districts have been able to walk right up to the brink of financial disaster without any intervention from the state. So when state officials do rush in, they face horrific conditions with too few options for balancing the books.
The state’s current rubric for dealing with financial emergencies is weak to the point of flaccidity. Legislators are right to firm up the consequences of inaction.
Henderson does acknowledge, and rightfully so, the fact that the plan does indeed tread on the democratic process and calls for tweaks to those aspects of the proposal. Henderson also addresses the critics claiming the proposal is an attempt by the right to take over.
That’s not to say the current proposal is perfect. Wiping out elected officials, as both the House and Senate versions call for, is decidedly anti-democracy...But overall, fixing the law makes good sense. And it’s overdue, given the number of jurisdictions in financial trouble.
It’s also worth noting, for the benefit of those who characterize this effort as some right-wing attempt to take over the state’s cities, that most of these ideas come from Dillon, a Democrat, who was talking about them well before he was appointed to Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s cabinet.
Read the full column here.
What say you? Weigh in on the discussion and leave a comment.
