2005 House Bill 5187: State arts grants income tax checkoff

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Introduced by Rep. Fran Amos (R) on September 15, 2005, to allow an individual to choose to automatically contribute $2 or more from his or her state income tax refund to the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, which oversees the awarding of state arts grants. This would have the effect of reducing the amount of a person’s tax refund. A person not receiving a refund could use his or her tax return to contribute to the program.
- Referred to the House Tax Policy Committee on September 15, 2005.

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1) Art tax checkoff? Liberals need help to tie shoes. by Anonymous Citizen on September 23, 2005
>This (arts grant checkoff on MI 1040) is a good idea.< Yes, I can see where liberals who can’t tie their shoes without government involvement would approve. Because lord knows, without help from Big Mother they could never figure out anything so complicated as how to write a check to a non-profit arts institution.

Re. "Thanks to the fiscal irresponsibility of the short-sighted selfish Republicans in Washington, we have tough economic times here in Michigan."

Well, they are fiscally irresponsible in DC, for sure. But, those pesky facts undermine the rest of this claim. Nationally, 3.7 million net new jobs were added during the past two years, there have been 26 consecutive months of MANUFACTURING sector expansion, real GDP has been rising at 4 percent, and wages and salaries up 7 percent from last year.

Meanwhile, in Michigan, unemployment stuck at 7 percent - 2 points above the national average. We were the only state to lose jobs last year, and at midyear 2005 employment is down 31,000 jobs from a year ago. Per-capita personal income was 3 percent below the national average in 2004.

Hmmm - do I sense a little cognitive dissonance here? Gosh, maybe those punitive business taxes, fees, and increasing regulations really are important to potential employers, who take one look at locating in Granholm's Michigan and say, "You gotta be kidding!"

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2) Arts grants by Anonymous Citizen on September 23, 2005
This is a great idea. No one is forced to contribute; yet the income tax mechanism is a low cost effective method to collect the money. Just as long as the bureaucrats deciding who gets how much of it can be effectively monitored, it should work well.

Check-offs worked very well for Wildlife and Children's Trust Fund in the past.

Thanks to the fiscal irresponsibility of the short-sighted selfish Republicans in Washington, we have tough economic times here in Michigan. This check off allows those who wish to help out an efficient means to do so.

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3) good grief by Anonymous Citizen on September 20, 2005
I can't believe our government is doling out "arts" grants in this time of economic hardship.
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