Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on September 12, 2007

Click here to view bill details.

There is no need for a sales tax increase. It only feeds your bloated overspending. You need to cut spending to balance this budget, not increase taxes. Sales taxes hurt the poorest most. As people spend more, you get more taxes. That increase should cover any ordinary inflation of your costs. An increase in the rate just supports new unnecessary spending.

Would'nt it be better to show the people the cuts that the legislature is will to make before hitting us up with a tax increase. you must be a Democrat! Their answer is always increase taxes. Getting sick of Michigan!

be voted on by the people it affects. sales taxes are burdensome, but no more or less burdensome than any other tax. sales taxes also allow non residents (tourists) to foot some of the tax burden. it is incumbent upon our legislators to REDUCE that burden whenever and wherever possible. to do otherwise is to steal from the people. legislators should be constantly mindful of the PROPER ROLE OF GOVERNMENT, and work to implement only those laws that fulfill that role, and no others. it is NOT the role of government to provide charity to anyone for any reason. it is NOT the role of government to deprive the citizens of their rights. it is NOT the role of government to dabble in religion and patently religious matters. it IS the role of government to keep prisoners in jail for their entire sentence, and not to let them out because the legislators cannot control their spending habits. any spending which is not specifically authorized by the state and federal constitution should be halted immediately. it IS the role of government to keep police officers on the streets. it IS the role of police to ENFORCE THE LAW, it is NOT the role of police to raise revenue for the legislators. any laws that say otherwise are unconstitutional and should be repealed immediately. it is NOT the role of government to meddle in our private lives. any spending to accomplish that goal should be halted immediately. it is NOT the role of government provide jobs. if a state legislator thinks that it is, he should tell it's citizens where in the constitution it says that it is. if a legislator thinks that it's his job to provide jobs, let him buy a business and do exactly that. if he NEEDS to provide jobs, let him repeal some of the useless and unnecessary taxes, rules, and regulations that hinder and impede the normal course of business. our legislators seem to take every opportunity to write new legislation, on the premise that it will make us think that they are DOING SOMETHING. before any legislator presents any new law, a thorough search of the current existing laws should be made to ensure that no duplication is taking place. solving a problem is what people do, not laws. duplication is WASTE. PURE AND SIMPLE. new laws are often seen as a way to SOLVE PROBLEMS. sometimes it's better to stand out of the way and take away the barriers that keep people from being able to solve problems. in case you legislators haven't noticed the common theme of this post, it's STICK TO THE CONSTITUTION, RAISE NO NEW TAXES, SPEND THE MONEY YOU HAVE MORE WISELY AND FRUGALLY, AND REPEAL THE DUPLICITOUS LAWS THAT CLOG OUR LIVES WITH THE CLUTTER OF MICRO-MANAGEMENT.

Representatives Tobocman, Cushingberry and Beida should all be recalled. They are obviously not listening to the people they represent. Beida won't even respond to his emails. By now you would think that they would realize that Michigan is being ridiculed across the country and used as an example of "What NOT to do." They are an ever increasing embarrassment to the people of the State of Michigan and should be summarily dumped!

and I'll balance the budget. Give me a week and we'll be on the way to boomtown. CUT TAXES NOW

Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.

Which "Government Service" would you miss? State cops...Not. Locals will do just fine Secretary of State...Nope Road Crews...maybe, when it snows. But I'll bet you can hire it out cheaper and get a better job. Jenny...Nope, Send her back to canada

usually relegated to traffic enforcement, and not responses to local events such as breaking and entering and theft, you would not miss them much, as your local police and sheriff's departments usually cover those sorts of calls. all this talk about what would happen if your daughter was out alone on the highway when a breakdown occurs, giving 'worst case scenarios' is just that, a worst case scenario, easily 'cured' with proper training in the use of a defensive weapon, and the 'adjustment' of the laws to allow it's carry and use in our cars. as of now, it is illegal for an average citizen to carry a loaded pistol or shotgun in a vehicle for self protection. we have given up our right to defend ourselves to the state while on it's roads and streets, and come to rely on the police totally for our 'security'. only a populace who was totally 'cowed' by the thorough 'indoctrination' would believe that this was a good idea. the very notion of 'self protection' and 'self defense' has been scoffed at, and fought against on this very site several times. as a previous poster stated, 'when bad things happen, ccw holders probably won't be there anyway' when talking about defending our children from the increasingly real threat of death at the hands of a deranged person who chooses to ignore the 'gun free zone' signs and kill at random in one of the places where he knows that no one will be able to shoot back. we have made our automobiles 'gun free zones' because it's illegal to carry one loaded to defend ourselves in one, and have made our automobiles 'free gun zones' because we have to leave them there to enter the 'gun free zones'. all this legislation seems to be pointed directly at empowering the evil to do bad things to the good people of this state. and you can hear the expected whine of the liberals at every attempt to correct the situation. the current complaint, from a professed conservative, no less, is that this bill creates a 'special class' of citizen. i say that the 'special class' of citizen was created years ago when those previous laws were passed, creating the 'special class' of UNARMED citizens. i applaud every legislative effort, big or small, that moves to correct this current intolerable situation, and move us back to the way things should be, every citizen armed, every citizen able to defend himself. citizens who are free to exercise these rights seldom need police to protect them.

George Cushingberry says we need more phone tax to avoid Bozo The Clown answering 9-1-1 calls. They also told us more money would bring better government. Well that did not work so why would we think a higher phone tax would improve service?

Would we miss the current governor and legislature?

Rep. George Cushingberry, another glittering jewel of colossal ignorance, and a fine example of why we need a part time legislature!

or increases on those already in place. Michigan is the only state in the Union that has shifted the economy into reverse and continues to keep it there. To continue by raising taxes in spite of the lessons learned and relearned over the last few years is to ignore economics good common sense. Every business person realizes that if their products are not selling as they should, in order to make a profit prices must be cut or product discontinued to stay in business. The auto companies do it by offering rebates, interest free loans, and discounts, when sales are slumping. Our legislature should be finding more ways to cut taxes, cut non-crucial services, and to discontinue government services and bureaus that are not producing at a fair value. A few, just to suggest starting points, would be the cutting of legislative jobs and staff by at least a third. This would leave time to accomplish what needs to be done plus leave a few hours for the cutting of costs elsewhere. Road crews do not have to be on the road before snow starts to build - this only creates o/t for road crews. Same with salt trucks. Many (not all) government offices are staffed with supervisors responsible for only a few employees, and could count their supervisory hours each month on one hand, while being able to count their productive hours per week or month on the other hand. Schools are frequently staffed with teachers who teach material opposed to the principles of our culture. This is more prevalent in the college level institutions, but are they sacred? As the economy of the state declines, so do incomes. Businesses need help to stay and so do the people they employed. These after all are people who have been paying taxes. Would this be hard to do? You bet. But our government, responsible not only for the safety of its citizens, but to provide an atmosphere friendly to business that its' citizens might find work available, has let us down. The solution is not to raise taxes, which only shifts a heavier burden to those least able to provide it, but as history has proven, creates only a sickening downward spiral. The hard job still needs to be done; if the current government in Michigan is not up to the task, I urge the citizens to do the heavy lifting. Remember those who have let us down, who want to raise our taxes, who encourage our businesses to leave. Remember them and replace them. After all, we have the power - if we want to take it.