Legislative Report

  2012-2013 Budget  

 

I was disappointed by the Governor’s proposed budget.  After a year of slashing education funding, raising taxes on seniors and working families, and revenue sharing to local municipalities, Michiganders will see no reprieve in this year’s proposal.  

Last year’s budget represented one of the largest business tax cuts in Michigan history. To fund the tax cut, Governor Snyder enacted unprecedented cuts to education, increased taxes on seniors and working families, and continued an almost decade’s old trend of reducing revenue sharing payments to local municipalities.  

Despite public outcry over last year’s budget, the Governor’s current proposal did little to reverse these trends.Proposing a 0.8 percent increase to education is a slap in the face to Michigan children, teachers, parents and school administrators.After factoring for inflation, which was 3.3 percent over the past year, this increase could actually be considered a reduction in funding.  

This budget reflects the fact that our Governor and his friends at the top have a fundamental misunderstanding of what life is like for most Michiganders.  Instead of restoring funding to our most basic public services, or providing working families with tax relief after last year’s increases, this budget continues a trend we have seen throughout the Governor’s first year in office of rewarding corporations at the expense of working class families.