Rewarding Some at the Expense of All: A Recap of the State of the State

Center: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

The governor’s annual State of the State speech happens in January and typically sets the tone for the Michigan Legislature’s year. Case in point: Nearly everything Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called for in her 2023 speech was passed into law.

The Mackinac Center has for decades hosted an internal watch party. Our policy experts watch the speech and take note of the number of calls to cut government (rare) or expand it (not rare). Our communications staff then prepares a release for the media, with reactions from our experts.

The governor’s theme of the night was the 1980s, and the speech was laced with references to songs of that era. But Gov. Whitmer didn’t seem to want to bring back the days of Ronald Reagan. The speech, unfortunately, followed a familiar theme: Use higher spending to dole out money to favored groups at the expense of everyone else.

The governor called for:

• A new corporate welfare program (on top of the $4 billion approved last year)


• Electric car rebates (almost exclusively benefiting the wealthy), with a bonus if the car is union-made


• Full taxpayer funding of education programs from preschool through community college (expensive programs with poor results)

Under this governor, Michigan has rapidly become a high-spending state. In her four years in office, the state budget has increased from $55.8 billion to $82 billion. That’s $26 billion, a 47% increase in spending. There is little evidence that government services have improved 47%. To sustain this spending, the Whitmer administration is fighting to increase the personal income tax rate. (The Mackinac Center has an ongoing lawsuit to stop that hike).

There is an onslaught of press releases that go out the night of the address, from supporters and opponents, including seemingly every politician in Michigan. The Mackinac Center works hard to break through the noise to get the media to pay attention to the costs (not just the benefits) of whatever has been proposed.

We were once again successful. Mackinac Center quotes and commentary on the issue appeared in Crain’s Detroit Business, Gongwer, Michigan’s Big Show, and news accounts across the state. Our outreach ensured that media coverage mentioned the immense costs and policy downsides the governor left out of her speech