Fasten seatbelts, the road ahead is bumpy

In the lame duck session last December the Michigan Legislature finally came up with a scheme to adequately fund the repair and upkeep the state's roads. It is a complex stew of bills, the centerpiece of which is a ballot proposal coming up in May to raise the state sales tax. To entice voters to approve a regressive tax increase the package has such goodies as the restoration of the Earned Income Tax Credit, more money for schools (as the legislature raids the School Fund to close the budget deficit – again), more money for cities, and who knows what else got squirreled away in the pages. The whole thing was passed as a bundle of bills, which means it isn't easy to find out all the pieces of the package. Couple that with a 300 word description that will appear on the ballot (in which "funding for roads" will be well buried) and the average voter won't understand it. And when that happens it usually gets turned down. Another reason is this sentiment expressed in letters to the editor: After all the tax cuts given to corporations over the last four years lawmakers expect a tax increase on the poor and middle class?

Jack Lessenberry, political columnist for Metro Times, suggests the reason why the package of bills came out the way they did. The GOP hates raising taxes so much they chose the tax in which we would have to do it to ourselves.

Brian Dickerson of the Detroit Free Press notes that since that lame duck session the Michigan legislature has become even more conservative and beholden to the Tea Party. Which means that if voters don't approve this deal whatever replaces it (if anything) will screw the poor and reward the rich even more.


There is a clause in the current state constitution (enacted in 1963) that says every 16 years there must be a vote on whether to call a constitutional convention to rework or update the document. It hasn't happened yet. Though the next such vote is 12 years away Lessenberry says the actions of the legislature over the last couple of years show the state government is broken, as is the constitution that gov't is based on. Perhaps we should call such a convention soon. If we do, Lessenberry has a list of things that must be changed.

* Get rid of legislature term limits – terms are so short legislators don't have time to learn the job, which means lobbyists run the place.

* Allow for a graduated income tax.

* District reapportionment to be done by a nonpartisan commission.

* Prevent political parties from nominating candidates for the supposedly nonpartisan Michigan Supreme Court.

* Require all donors to political campaigns be identified.

* Prevent lawmakers from reinstating a law that voters reject, such as the emergency manager law.

This constitution isn't working. Perhaps it is time to gather signatures to get a call to convention on the next big election ballot so that we have the hope of a constitution that works.