This article by Megan Chalfant and F. Vincent Vernuccio originally appeared on the Workers For Opportunity site April 7.
When Indiana teachers review their union membership form this fall, they’ll see something new.
In legible, 14-point bold text will be these words: The State of Indiana wishes to make you aware that you have a First Amendment right…to refrain from joining and paying dues to a union.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News March 23.
Two years ago, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer invoked emergency powers and launched a war against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. She singlehandedly commanded the state’s response — a historically unprecedented exercise of executive power. This was necessary to defeat the disease, we were told. But right now, victory seems illusive.
It used to be that most everyone went to public schools and the only political debate about this was how much more to give the schools next year. That started to change in the 1990s and gained momentum into this century. Last year, 19 states passed reforms to allow more charter schools, to fund students rather than institutions, and to help give parents more options on how they can educate their children.
This article originally appeared in The Hill March 12 2022.
President Biden repeatedly has promised to be “the most pro-union president in American history.” But there’s one key group of people standing in his way: The tens of millions of workers who want nothing to do with union membership.
By Ben DeGrow
During the early months of the pandemic, many worried that lost revenues from restrictive economic policies would break public school budgets. But it turns out the worst fears for Michigan K-12 finances were misplaced.
In April 2020, the Mackinac Center responded to projected shortfalls with suggested budget items to cut, including areas of the school aid budget less focused on classrooms and student needs. Local and state officials braced themselves for a disruption to the years-long trend of rising per-pupil revenues in Michigan’s K-12 system, a disruption that never came.
Editor's Note: A shortened version of this piece first appeared in the Traverse City Record Eagle on April 6, 2022.
Some state lawmakers are again playing with the notion of Michigan taxpayers bankrolling film production here. The last time officials tried to bring movie magic to Michigan, it cost taxpayers a staggering $500 million and produced almost nothing.
When Gov. Whitmer vetoed a tax cut that would have reduced the state’s income tax rate from 4.25% to 3.9%, she claimed that the state could not afford to reduce taxes. The governor said that the state would have lost $2.5 billion a year from the tax cut, along with the additional child tax credit and boosted senior exemptions. Not taking that $2.5 billion from Michigan taxpayers would “blow a recurring, multi-billion-dollar hole in basic state government functions from public safety to potholes,” Whitmer said.
By Jason Hayes
It's been more than a month since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine and gas prices are still well above $4 per gallon.
International instability plays a role in the most recent price spikes, but that does not erase the fact that the sustained increase in domestic energy prices began with President Biden’s election and can be linked to his domestic energy policies. The administration continues to point the finger elsewhere, claiming to have encouraged the oil and gas industry to rapidly increase production. But if Biden really wants to reduce prices for consumers, he could do two relatively simple things.
Congress passed massive stimulus spending last March to help states that were expected to suffer revenue losses due to the pandemic. But because state tax revenues remained higher than expected, Michigan lawmakers were left figuring out how to spend all that money coming from Washington.
Some medical providers in Michigan are pushing to eliminate the cost controls put in place by the bipartisan auto insurance reforms from 2019. These were a critical element of the reform, and reversing them would jeopardize the savings millions of Michigan drivers are just now beginning to realize.
Like many public policy advocates, the people at the Georgia Center for Opportunity research and write about public policy. What makes them different is that they try to bridge the gap between people working at the community level and the people working on state policy. I spoke with their president and CEO Randy Hicks about this for the Overton Window podcast.
Michiganders are saving big from the bipartisan auto insurance reforms passed in 2019, according to two insurance brokers that annually compare car insurance premiums among the states.
Insure.com describes Michigan as “the long-term king of high car insurance rates.” But in 2021 Louisiana dethroned the Great Lake State and now has the highest rates in the country. Michigan’s average premium was the nation’s most expensive for eight straight years, before dropping by 27% in 2021. Most of the reforms did not take effect until July 2020, so these figures reflect only about 18 months of experience under the state’s new insurance laws. Insure.com analysts expect premiums in Michigan to continue to decline in the future.
Is state government unable to perform its basic functions right now? That’s what Gov. Whitmer seemed to be saying as she vetoed a recent tax cut.
"I am vetoing SB 768 because it would strip away funding from kids, police, and communities, and according to nonpartisan analysis, blow a recurring, multi-billion-dollar hole in basic state government functions from public safety to potholes," she said.
Has the Overton Window shifted to the point where it's acceptable to discuss...the Overton Window?
Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman talked recently with the Acton Institute's Eric Kohn about the evolution of public policy ideas, the definition of the Window itself and the life of Joseph P. Overton.
By Ben DeGrow
The evidence is in: Demand for private school enrollment is growing in Michigan, reversing a years-long trend. For those concerned that this trend might worsen educational gaps between rich and poor, voters have a solution right now.
A recent Bridge Michigan piece highlights the resurgence of students attending private education options. In the two years since reaction to the pandemic disrupted normal routines, private religious schools have welcomed an extra 3% to 5% of students. This represents less than half of the losses Michigan private schools experienced in the previous decade. A driving factor for the rebound is that these schools consistently kept classrooms open, in clear contrast with many school districts’ remote instruction programs.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined four other governors this week to signal sympathy for citizens enduring a painful spike in energy prices. Unfortunately, Whitmer has no plans to provide actual relief as Michigan residents pay $4.25 per gallon for gas.
“We need to do all we can to put money back in people’s pockets,” Whitmer tweeted Tuesday after signing on to a letter in support of suspending federal gas taxes.
The state owns a lot of land, and manages much of it as state parks and state forests. These are held in trust for the benefit of the state’s residents. But what do people actually want from so many acres of often-remote forested land? To answer that, I spoke with Jason Hayes, the Mackinac Center’s Director of Environmental Policy, on the Overton Window podcast.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy sent a letter today demanding the state’s jobs agency produce documents that are key to validating the effectiveness of its Pure Michigan tourism promotion program.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation and its consultants have maintained a veil of secrecy over their calculations of Pure Michigan’s return on investment (ROI) for many years. The state’s claims that Pure Michigan pays for itself strain credulity. The Mackinac Center has long attempted to verify these assertions, but in doing so, we have faced significant hurdles due to a lack of transparency. This year is no different.
As Gov. Whitmer issues plans to fill potholes on Michigan roadways, note that cold patch is a safety measure and not a fulfillment of a campaign promise.
“We're kicking this into overdrive, using overtime pay and contractors to get the job done, while we continue broader improvement projects across the state,” the governor said last week. “I will continue to work with anyone to fix the damn roads, make long-lasting investments in our infrastructure, and put Michigan first."
State lawmakers have a lot of money at their disposal, and legislators voted to use some of it to lower taxes. This would make Michigan more competitive, encourage small business, lower the burden of government and help Michigan’s economy recover. The rapid growth of state spending called for in the governor’s executive budget also shows that it’s important to cut taxes just to ensure that budget growth is sustainable.
By Ben DeGrow
The effect of lost learning from COVID school policies has impaired many high school students’ abilities to chart a path to productive futures. Though many have struggled in recent years, lawmakers have tools to enlist students directly in support of their own future professional attainment. They should use those tools.
Michigan made a promise to taxpayers in 2007 that a hike in income taxes would be just temporary. It was not. Now that the state is awash in cash, policymakers ought to consider making good on the old promise. Restoring the income tax to its 3.9% rate will make Michigan more competitive, encourage job growth, and attract more people to the state.
Last year, 14 states cut their taxes. On this week’s Overton Window podcast, I talk about why they did so with long-term taxpayers advocate and strategist Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.
Tax cuts are not only popular, Norquist says, but helpful to a state that seeks to attract more people. States with low — or no — income taxes tend to attract people from high-tax states.
Some bad ideas just won’t die.
Legislators introduced a pair of bills in the Michigan House and Senate earlier this month aimed at bringing back the state’s corporate tax incentive for the entertainment industry. If enacted into law, taxpayers would reimburse 20 to 30 percent of in-state spending on film, television, and commercial productions for the next decade. The program would cost taxpayers up to $50 million annually to start and $100 million annually ten years from now.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday derisively dismissed a tax cut proposal passed by the Senate. Her argument against a cut was supported by a Lansing group that argued wealthy taxpayers would enjoy the largest share of the tax relief. Such an analysis is overly simplistic and lacks basic but vital context.
