In this situation, the first quesiton you must answer is,











where is the nearest out of state liquor store?

Well, the tax increase passed as well as a brand new tax on services. Just what a struggling state needs....more barriers to success. On the upshot, at least these new taxes will keep those pesky new businesses from relocating here:rolleyes:

Hey Kach, are we blown away yet?

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Yipee! I've now got another hat to wear: surrogate state tax collector. I'm estimating I will need to add $50-$75 tax to every bill I send out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek: I will need to pay my staff to administer this new tax and will have to pay my accountants to reconcile the collections and send out the checks each quarter. So I will need to raise my rates also.

My clients (insurance companies) will be thrilled I'm sure. Of course they will simply pass the increase along to you and me in the form of rate increases. Look for a HUGE insurance rate increase across the board very soon.

Interestingly, golf courses are exempt from the tax but ski resorts are not. Accountants are also exempt??? Hmmmm .... I wonder which lobbying groups were busy over the weekend buying these scumbag politicians lap dances and drinks. :rolleyes:

The Governor's reaction to the new service tax and the hike in the income tax: "Applause broke out in Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm's office when the final vote was announced at 4:18 a.m."

Oh, and this is priceless: The service tax will include a tax on investment advice by financial planners, who help investors on strategies to legally reduce their taxes by wise money management ..... i.e. "we don't want you to know too much about this tax legislation. Just stay in dark, pay it and shut up. Don't try to change the way you manage your money to account for the new legislation - if you do, we'll tax you even more. We know what's best for you. Trust us."

I'd rather have the state government close down than to have a service tax passed.

This sucks, I'm already in the hole and now they want to bury me alive.

http://impressive.net/people/gerald/...1-43-42-sm.jpg

This State's problems are much larger than this governor, manufacturing is a national disaster - call in the national guard.

The Manufacturing Component
http://www.ies.ncsu.edu/ncmanufacturing/
http://www.ies.ncsu.edu/_library/ima...s/chart_02.gif

New York state should really be hurting based on this chart - Michigan half as much.
http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/english/budget/ontariobudgets/2002/papera.html
http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/english/bud...es/papera5.gif

http://midwest.chicagofedblogs.org/archives/2005/11/
http://midwest.chicagofedblogs.org/a...ated-thumb.gif

:mad:

"Your going to be blown away"

LOL. What a cheeseball. How did this bubble head get elected?

Tell me about it. The license plate tabs on my 17 year old E30, which I paid 4 grand for, cost $90/year because the car was $23K new!

Good thing my $10 million Ferrari GTO was only 15K in 1962, as the tabs on that are only $65 :rolleyes:

The grass is a little greener in Indiana.

Ranking by state can be found in column 1. Column 2 shows the tax burden as a percentage of income, column 3 is tax burden per capita, and column 4 shows income per capita.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1191261894.jpg

Thanks, now I'm glad I don't live in Hawaii.:D

Unbelievable.

The (R) in the assembly need to grow a collective set of balls and tell her "go ahead and shut down the government". It wouldn't take people long to realize that 90% of what government does is unnecessary anyway, and the cuts would be much easier to justify.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, they had to defend their own asses. If they ever allowed government to be shut down and people realize the truth of how unnecessary most of it is, they'd ALL lose. I guess (D) and (R) have one thing in common - the public. They can't ever let it get out that they're "unnecessary", lest the money and power start ebbing away. They'd rather give it away to the "other side" or "other party" than hand it back to the people they supposedly represent.

Sickening, but that's where our "democracy" is now.

State Senator Mike Bishop's proposed budget (pdf).

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa/main/sacpres0911.pdf

The Dem's described it as:
http://www.michigandems.com/092807prs.html
I don't know all the details, but a few less state troopers singling out my 911 on I-94 is alright with me - screw smokey.

I sure wish the folks in charge were as smart as you guys. Like POP, for example. Who knew that

1) 90% of gubmit is unnecessary
2) The reason your Republican legislators did not stare down the governor is because then people would discover that gubmit is unnecessary.

That flies so squarely in the face of the facts that it must be one of those bits of knowledge that are so evolved that very few people can even understand it.

Well, if the GOP lacks the guts, then perhaps Michigan just needs to:

Lower wages. Cut them in half. That will help attract businesses and employers.

Eliminate environmental regulations altogether. File for a waiver from EPA.

Eliminate police and fire services. And education. This will have a LOT of money.

Invest in tire research. Smooth roads are really expensive and without a gubmit, some fairly rugged tire designs will become popular.

Eliminate business regulations. Anything goes. This would have the added benefit of creating a really exciting, fast-moving environment for some really rough-and-tumble business practices. No more mister nice guy.

Eliminate liability. No attorneys whatsoever. No laws. Drop a rock onto a house and kill the family......I guess they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. This move will help illustrate Michigan's commitment to fostering a robust business climate.

Right you are, POP. Gubmit is, obviously, just not needed anymore. Maybe in the olden days when covered wagons were the main mode of travel, but not today. No, sir-ee.

My vote is for Superman and his anti-minimum wage proposals! :)

Privatization of many Gov services gains untold efficiencies. Indiana sold off the toll road to Spanish-Australia joint venture for a 75 year lease, who's complaining? That is a step in the right direction. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Good idea. This way we can increase efficiency through competition. If the freeway becomes too expensive, there would be alternative routes. Twenty miles of freeway at $4 per mile and 70 mph is $80. Fifty miles of windy road with stop signs and a couple of 25 mph towns might be just $0.50 per mile but average speed would be not better than 40 mph. Companies could create a niche by advertising its maintenance-free roads, to save you money. You'd need to sign a waiver of liability, though. But best of all.........

Those companies could merge. Then, you can buy all your driving miles from one convenient company.

I can't believe you seriously think government does not only a good but better job at ANYTHING than the market.

As all the founders said Sup, "government is but a necessary evil". They warned about their absorption of duty and power.

"Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread."
-- Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, 1821

I challenge you to find a quote by those that designed our system saying something to the effect of "embrace your government for it will solve problems" or anything even close. You won't because they were smart enough to know better.

You sound a little......low on justification, Len. Yeah, we know about the quotes from our founding fathers. You know.....the ones who set this government up in the first place. Apparently, they didn't agree with the posters here who brilliantly conclude there should never have been a United States government in the first place.

The sooner the better. The quicker we get those Michigan State Troopers into the unemployment line the better. Oh, wait a minute. Unemployment lines are gubmit programs. And so is unemployment compensation. All gone.

Okay, well, my best idea so far still is to just cut wages in half. That should really place Michigan into the economic fast lane. Dang workers and their pesky needs.

Fire protection? Who needs it, with the fireproof building materials folks will sell you in the absence of consumer protections.

Lots of nutritional value in the Mystery Meat Sandwiches the gubmit will not currently allow on the market.

I just wish I were smart enough to understand all the stuff gubmit does that I don't need.

No, they said a very limited government. No one here is calling for no government. Red herring to be sure.

The trooper can get productive jobs in other sectors. If we must pay short term unemployment for the greater long term good I will not cry.

As to cutting wages, I assume you mean the public sector as the gove has no right to set private market wages. Anyway, I disagree. Pay them the same or more but cut the troopers by 30-40%. Eliminate several fringe committees and panels (anything with the term fairness or "to promote" in the title is a good start). Put certain government agencies on referendum votes to see if the public actually wants to pay for them. Etc...etc...

I also wish you understood more of this:D

Anyway, the founders knew if we let them corrupt our experiment they would. We are letting them.

It looks like your sense of humor might still be largely intact. Had you SCREAMED at me Len, I'd have eased up. I respect your frustration.

And I think you know I am not entirely insane. Not ENTIRELY. POP said "90%" of gubmit. As I read, this seem to reflect the perception of a fair proportion of you gubmit-haters. I think many prolly realize, consciously, that they have no real idea of how much waste there might be in government. And that it's nice to remain in that ignorant state, since the truth is probably not as simple, or as convenient, as they like.

Sure, go ahead and eliminate all boards and programs with terms like "fairness" and "promote." That and the elimination of all consumer protection and business regulation programs should net you perhaps five percent of government.

It doesn't matter to me if the government is good or poor at doing things I don't want them to do. I just want them to stop doing them...period.

Again I ask if you can find some founders wisdom on embracing government? I would love to see it. If it's not out there, why do you think that is?

Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.

Cut like a sawz-all. Cut.

I'd bet if 90% of government service was cut for a month, most people wouldn't even notice.

Government is absorbed with its own perceived self-importance and in general, the less they do the better the rest of us are. Basic essentials only - police & fire, infrastructure, trash pickup and that's about it. Maybe some provision for education or utility oversight but other than that, I say an out-of-work bureaucrat is a good thing, both for society AND for the bureaucrat, who now must figure out how to be REALLY valuable to society, not just "told" they are.