How high do taxes have to climb before people simply stop paying them — legally, at least?
Economist Todd Nesbit of Ball State University and Mike LaFaive, senior director at the Mackinac Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative challenge this question on the Overton Window Podcast. Their conversation centers on their recent study examining the scale and impact of cigarette smuggling driven by varying state excise taxes.
By Jason Hayes
The Mackinac Center appreciates the opportunity to provide comments supporting the approval of the Line 5 Tunnel Project Proposal (Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy application number HQ3-8BYB-N9DT1). The project ensures energy security, economic stability, and environmental protection for Michigan and the Midwest.
President Trump issued his administration’s “Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan in July. The White House announcement on artificial intelligence shows promise, but the effectiveness of the Trump plan will be moderated by the actions states, including Michigan, take in response to the rise of artificial intelligence.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News July 29, 2025.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer just appointed Shaquila Myers to the Michigan Public Service Commission, the agency that oversees electric and gas rates. Myers has an opportunity in her new role to examine what neighboring states are doing well. In particular, she and her fellow commissioners should review Ohio’s recent energy reforms.
By Jason Hayes
My name is Jason Hayes. I am the Director of Energy and Environmental Policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The Mackinac Center, based in Midland, Michigan, is a nonprofit research and educational institute that advances the principles of free markets and limited government. The Mackinac Center is a leading voice for free-market principles, limited government, and policies that prioritize individual liberty and economic opportunity. We strongly support energy policies that ensure an abundant, secure, and affordable supply of reliable energy to power prosperity for Michigan's families, businesses, and communities.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer offered a company billions of dollars, and her administrators signed a contract saying that they won’t tell anyone about it. After the company canceled its project, officials disclosed the name of company and what was offered. This is not how the state ought to conduct its business.
A majority of U.S. voters favor supplying the country’s energy needs with a mix that includes proven power generation such as oil, coal, and gas as well as politically popular sources like wind and solar. An “all-of-the-above strategy” appeals to 55% of voters, according to polling data from YouGov. Self-styled moderates including Democrat Sen. Elissa Slotkin and Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley are standard-bearers of the all-of-the-above movement.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration is pushing to make Michigan reliant on so-called green energy. In 2023, state lawmakers passed legislation requiring the state to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. But Michigan leaders are not telling you the actual cost – and risks – of such an endeavor.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pressing soft drink manufacturers to shift away from high fructose corn syrup in producing their products. Though the movement away for corn syrup is a cornerstone of the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, the Department of Health and Human Services has so far limited itself to making recommendations to food producers.
Richard Vedder has spent more than half a century in the classroom. A distinguished professor emeritus of economics at The Ohio State University and a former advisor to Joint Economic Committee of Congress, Vedder has seen firsthand how the American higher education system has changed — and what it has failed to change. On The Overton Window Podcast, he explains the ways he thinks the system needs fundamental reform.
By Molly Macek
Will states struggle to support student achievement as a result of the Department of Education shrinking its workforce?
Not likely. Instead, a smaller federal education department could pave the way to progress for states that commit to improving student outcomes.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation hands out taxpayer money and other favors with the stated goal of creating jobs. But over the years, it has often felt like a punchline. The corporation is under intense scrutiny after state investigators raided its Lansing offices in June and seized records tied to a $20 million legislative grant funneled through former MEDC board member Fay Beydoun, a donor to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s gubernatorial campaign.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News July 22, 2025.
“Ann Arbor teacher says pay is so low he has to deliver pizzas,” the Ann Arbor News reported in an alarming summer 2017 story.
The article explained how Jeff Kass, an English teacher in Ann Arbor, worked two jobs to make ends meet. He would teach all day and then work late-night shifts several times a week. During teacher contract negotiations, Kass spoke out at a school board meeting. He showed up to the meeting in his Cottage Inn uniform and called for higher teacher pay.
The federal 340B program allows some hospitals and medical clinics to buy drugs from manufacturers at a huge discount and then resell them for large profits. Initially a relatively small program, a rule during the Obama Administration skyrocketed the program’s usage.
Should public employees retain the right to stop supporting a union, regardless of a prior written membership agreement, as guaranteed by the U.S. Supreme Court?
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to answer that question. In an amicus brief filed July 24, the two organizations ask the Court to reaffirm and enforce the constitutional standard it set in the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision: that no money may be taken from a public employee’s paycheck for a union without the employee’s clear and affirmative consent.
Michigan legislators have not found much to agree about this year. And the Democrats with a majority in the Senate are blaming the Republicans with a majority in the House over the one thing they need to do: pass a budget.
Yet it is unclear what they are arguing about, outside of a handful of issues.
The Middle Michigan Development Corporation will offer taxpayer funded incentives worth up to $2,000 to select Central Michigan University graduates who stay in the area, specifically in Mt. Pleasant or Union Township, according to WNEM news report.
The agency received a grant from the Michigan Growth Office to fund the program, which means all taxpayers are paying for it. For many reasons, practical and empirical, this is a bad idea. There are better alternatives.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News July 15, 2025.
Voters want to understand vast and complex public policy ideas, ranging from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to ballot measures before Michigan voters to road-funding deals percolating in the Michigan Legislature. But there are so many issues. People are busy and probably won’t develop a broad range of policy expertise. So it can be easy to judge a bill using weak indicators like which party proposed the idea or who endorsed it.
The abrupt cancelation of Sandisk’s planned $63 billion semiconductor manufacturing plant near Flint is another failure to be filed under “corporate welfare.” State officials offered more than $6 billion in subsidies, $5.5 billion of that money in cash. Taxpayers have already spent at least $260 million. Gov. Whitmer attributed the company’s decision to “national economic turmoil.”
Michigan schools began the 21st century close to the top of national rankings, regularly posting results that were better than scores in most other states, especially those in the south. But the state has endured a long slide from the mid-1990s to today. Michigan’s math achievement ranking declined from 14th to 36th, based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Over the same time frame, Michigan’s reading score ranking declined from 20th to 42nd on the NAEP.
In an era when political arguments ruin Thanksgiving dinners, Stephen Henderson and Nolan Finley have built a friendship that proves disagreement doesn’t have to destroy relationships.
The two veteran journalists joined the Overton Window Podcast to discuss their new book The Civility Book: A Guide to Building Bridges Across the Political Divide. With more than two decades of spirited disagreement under their belts, Henderson and Finley have managed to remain close friends despite stark ideological differences.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News July 8, 2025.
Certain phrases in American political life are instantly recognizable.
“I am not a crook.”
“Read my lips: No new taxes.”
“Mission accomplished.”
“If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”
By Brian Ntwali
When the Michigan Legislature missed its July 1 deadline to pass a K-12 budget, a major flashpoint in the budget impasse was the Senate’s opposition to a House proposal that would eliminate categorical grants (funds restricted to specific programs such as special education or funding for “at-risk” students) and redirect the freed-up funds to the per-pupil foundation allowance.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News July 8, 2025.
State investigators’ recent revelation of ties between Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office and Fay Beydoun sheds important light on how politicians and connected individuals abuse the budget earmark process. But the process itself is another abuse, as the Mackinac Center for Public Policy shows in an ongoing lawsuit.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News July 2, 2025.
Millions of Americans will celebrate July 4 with family gatherings, barbeques, parades and fireworks. You might have plans, too. But did you know our country’s vote for independence occurred on July 2, 1776?
