State Representative Brad Jacobsen again shared his same tired optimism about the alleged Michigan recovery in his column last week.
Once again it is high on brag and void of facts.
He talks about not placing the burden on our children and about the hard-working taxpayers, like he is on their side.
He mentions his and his fellow legislators? plans for the future and their past actions as if they have and will continue to make things better.
Well here are some facts for the Representative to swallow hard on. Michigan continues to be one of the highest unemployment States in the country ranking 46th in employment with an unemployment rate of 8.9 percent.
An optimist might say that rate is down but so is our population with Michigan one of three States actually losing population in the same time the country experienced a 2.8 million growth.
How many are leaving to find a job?
Michigan Public Schools have suffered large budget reductions every year for the last 10 years.
Talk about our children paying the price!
The last indignity is the ‘hard-working taxpayers?? surprise that they are discovering as they prepare their tax returns this year for the state.
A majority of taxpayers will see a significant increase in state taxes.
Brad and his buddies worked hard to close loopholes and reduce deductions.
They started to tax seniors on their pensions and 401k plans.
They have eliminated the deduction for children.
Finally, they raised taxes on individuals by $1.4 billion.
In the same time they decreased funding to local governments, colleges and school districts.
Seems like the only entity that is doing better is the state itself.
In the future they are going to look to the ‘hard-working taxpayers? for money to repair our crumbling roads and many other things that they have neglected since Brad took office.
This needs to be done even though the ‘hard-working taxpayers?? annual incomes have decreased on state average by over $2,500 since 2008, not to mention the loss of benefits.
That is another cost the ‘hard-working taxpayers? will have to absorb.
Gerald Podzikowski
Oxford