Cities across Michigan are banning short-term rentals. The inevitable results of this regulatory crackdown will include more expensive vacations, less tourism and, in all likelihood, an emerging black market for rentals.
The problem is growing. Despite few complaints, Park Township, near Holland, banned short-term rentals within its limits. The city of Detroit quietly banned short-term rentals in residential areas before pulling back after an outcry. St. Clair Shores said its zoning ordinance doesn't permit short-term rentals, cutting Airbnb-affiliated properties in the city from 15 down to zero. The city prosecuted a homeowner for engaging in a short-term rental.
There were only two fatalities on commercial airplanes in the United States between 2010 and 2021. Yet in the face of a pilot shortage that is making air travel worse for the public, organized labor and politicians are fighting efforts to make it easier for pilots to get licensed.
The United Auto Workers union and Detroit’s Big Three could both end up losing after the current strike because government-driven electric vehicle manufacturing is quickly eating away at the industry’s big profits, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy informed national media recently.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer created her “Growing Michigan Together Council” June 1 with a goal of creating a blueprint to grow Michigan’s population and encourage economic growth. The governor rightly noted that people have fled the Great Lake State in search of opportunity elsewhere.
This article originally appeared in Bridge Michigan September 5, 2023.
Michigan lawmakers are rightfully concerned about housing affordability. But a bill package floating around Lansing — referred to as the “Renter’s Bill of Rights” — would radically upend the state’s housing market in a way that would make things much worse for renters, particularly low-income residents.
A new official report suggests that law enforcement agencies in Michigan routinely violate the constitutional rights of residents by exploiting laws on civil asset forfeiture.
Forfeiture is a process by which the government takes ownership of private property that was involved in a crime or resulted from criminal activity. In theory, it is supposed to derive criminals of ill-begotten gains. In practice, law enforcement often seizes and forfeits property from innocent people.
It used to be that kids roamed the streets with their friends unsupervised. That includes many of the adults who now hover over their children’s every move. The culture around raising children has changed. So, too, has the state’s interactions with parents who let their kids practice more independence. Jarrett Skorup speaks with Free Range Kids author and Let Grow advocate Lenore Skenazy for the Overton Window podcast.
By Jason Hayes
This article originally appeared in the Detroit News August 30, 2023.
The protective veil of government influence that normally shelters Michigan’s monopoly utilities is being ripped away, over and over again, as a string of storms has damaged an increasingly fragile electric infrastructure during the past several months.
Michigan’s Legislature is considering a bill to change the default option for members of the state-managed school retirement system from a 401(k)-style plan to a pension option. This change will put the state at further risk of deeper pension debt. Lawmakers should not put more people in a system that lets the state promise benefits now and pay for them later.
Michigan legislators are debating bills that would let Detroit substitute some of its property taxes for a land value tax. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is the biggest proponent of this legislation, which he sees as a way to address a problem in the city. Detroit has the highest property tax rates in the country. This affects the value of property and the city’s rate of development. Tax something and you get less of it.
This article originally appeared in Crain’s Detroit Business August 22, 2023.
Michigan's budget is unsustainable. The large increases in the budget can't continue, because state spending has grown more than people's ability to pay. And lawmakers have approved a budget that spends more money than they are entitled to receive. The state government, its taxpayers and everyone who depends on it would be in a better position if lawmakers practiced a little restraint.
The United Auto Workers union is on strike. Auto companies – backed by massive state and federal incentives – are seeing profits, and the union wants its members to get paid more. But there are many reasons to worry that this will end up leaving Michigan worse off.
Organized labor is more popular than it has been in decades. The polls show it, the media cover it, and politicians are reacting to it.
But are labor unions actually popular? Only in theory, if not so much in practice.
Gallup has long-term polling on how people feel about unions. The polling suggests unions are viewed more favorably than they’ve been in decades.
Last week one of these authors (LaFaive) had the pleasure of working with a network of colleagues on an important economic measure published annually by the Fraser Institute. It is known as the “Economic Freedom of North America” index and it is designed to objectively measure economic freedom in the 50 United States, Mexican states and Canadian provinces by the degree to which each is more or less economically free.
The future of Michigan’s tax cut is headed to court after the Mackinac Center for Public Policy sued Treasurer Rachael Eubanks late last month. The suit, which was filed on behalf of individual taxpayers, business groups and two lawmakers, seeks to preserve a legally mandated reduction in the personal income tax rate.
American taxpayers are spending billions of dollars to fight climate change with more renewable energy. But is putting all our eggs in this basket distracting us from other important opportunities to prepare for a hard-to-predict future climate? Even if renewables achieve everything their proponents hope for and more, we may still fall short if they come at the cost of investing in strategic infrastructure that could alleviate destructive events.
Some important economists have argued that economic liberty improves a country’s economic prosperity. When policymakers secure property rights and stay out of voluntary exchange, the whole society is better off. Bob Lawson works on the Economic Freedom of the World project, where he tests this theory by measuring economic liberty. I speak with him about it for the Overton Window podcast.
Last year, the United States experienced a severe shortage of infant formula. Excessive federal regulations and extremely high tariffs has caused severe market concentration, meaning a recall resulted in a cascading negative chain reaction. Prices skyrocketed and parents looking for food for their babies were often out of luck.
Strong winds and heavy rain, accompanied by half a dozen tornados, damaged areas of Michigan about three weeks ago. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power for days, but fortunately, casualties were minimal.
In response, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for some areas of the state. But the governor has since unilaterally extended those emergencies, in a manner similar to what she tried to do during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
This article appeared July 9 2023 at American Institute for Economic Research.
Since 2008 we have published (with the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation) estimates on the degree to which cigarettes are smuggled, by state, including those exported to Canada or imported from Mexico. New rules to ban menthol cigarettes being considered by the Food and Drug Administration may dramatically hike cigarette smuggling.
By Molly Macek
Michigan public school students recently performed below pre-pandemic levels in reading and math, according to the latest statewide standardized tests. This happened even though schools received record funds to help students recover learning losses incurred during school closures.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Federation of Teachers regularly pushed to keep schools closed. The Detroit chapter — the Detroit Federation of Teachers — even approved a strike to stop the district from reopening classrooms.
The union has changed its tone since, but it was a strange position to argue that in-person teaching, the core job of its membership, wasn’t all that important.
This article originally appeared in the Detroit News May 22, 2023.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced during her “State of the State” address that she wants to expand taxpayer-funded pre-K to all of Michigan’s four-year-olds and is proposing more than $250 million “toward the goal” of universal pre-K. But preschool for every child would be costly, primarily benefit higher-income families, is unlikely to result in educational gains and will harm lower-income Michigan families.
Government is good at funding services – not too hard, given its ability to tax – but not all that great at providing them. It is slow to respond to demand. Lawmakers are bad at anticipating the future. Well-intentioned laws end up delaying projects and stifling growth. There are many competing priorities among different government officials – and true cost-benefit analyses are rare.
Lawmakers in every state offer cash and other favors to select companies. Often the companies and politicians sign nondisclosure agreements that oblige both parties to keep quiet about negotiations. Pat Garofalo is appalled by this lack of basic transparency. Garofalo directs state and local policy at the American Economic Liberties Project, working with a coalition of groups and lawmakers to outlaw legislative nondisclosure agreements. I speak with him about his efforts for the Overton Window podcast.
