Lou Glazer is the head of Michigan Future, a think tank based in Ann Arbor (so, yeah, probably not conservative). He was also a part of Michigan Gov. James Blanchard's administration back in the early 1980s. He wrote a commentary for last Sunday's Free Press. Glazer notes that current Gov. Rick Snyder likes to claim this economic mess is the worst in Michigan and that's why Snyder gave business those big tax cuts, signed the right-to-work law, and is cutting the size of gov't (while also taxing pensioners and cutting money to schools).
But the recession when Blanchard took office was worse. Blanchard didn't do any of the things Snyder did and actually raised income tax (which by Michigan Constitution must be a flat rate) and didn't cut the business tax. And the recovery happened faster than it has been doing under Snyder.
That, says Glazer, is pretty good proof that Snyder's efforts are not what is driving Michigan's economic recovery (Snyder's crowing to the contrary). Glazer is also quick to point out it probably wasn't Blanchard's tax raising efforts either. The real driver of the Michigan economy is the health of the national economy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment