Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on August 19, 2009, to give a four-year, $100 million subsidy to a joint venture of rhe the "Xtreme Power" and "Clairvoyant Energy" corporations, which would employ 300 at the fomer Ford Wixom assembly plant making “large scale power systems designed to convert variable renewable power into firm dispatchable power.” The subsidy is structured as a "refundable" tax credit, meaning the state will send a check for the amount that the credit exceeds the company's tax liability

The vote was 90 in favor, 17 opposed and 3 not voting

(House Roll Call 402 at House Journal 0)

Click here to view bill details.

 I guess I will have to get a crystal ball and apply for about a million to use clairvoyance to "dream up" talk to Nicholas Tesla and find out how to extract electricity from the air.

Better yet dream up a way to get rid of the clowns in Lansing.  1000 clowns out of work in Michigan and people think of nothing else but foolish ways to spend money.

Great, State of Michigan is so rich they can take another $100 MILLION from productive people, forcing some of them out of business

 

to do what they do best, PICK FUTURE LOSERS in wrong headed business ventures, (is it only me that sees Michigan have a knack for picking LOSERS to waste money on???) in long run on average, this will WASTE more energy than it helps.

subsidy sibsidy sibsidy, whatever happened to EQUAL under the law!!?????

 

 Hey, that's great! They get a check for the difference between their tax liability and the credit. In other words, the state is using our money to pay them to be here. The more accounting wizardry they use to lower their tax liability, the more we will pay them. Who are the principals of this company? That's $333,333 per employee or $83,333 per employee per year. Good income per employee-paid for by the rest of us. This looks like one of Obama's stimulus programs.  Do other companies in the state recieve such a generous "allowance"?

 

Rep. Meekhof, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

“Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

I can’t vote for credits that cost $333,000 per job. Lower taxes for everyone is a better incentive. We, the State, should not be picking winners and losers.”

 

Rep. Agema, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

“Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

It is a travesty that the Speaker of the House does not permit votes on amendments to bills. We have been elected to vote, not allow the Speaker to gavel bills and amendments. This, once again allows government to pick winners and losers on the backs of existing businesses. All businesses in Michigan need a tax break so they’ll stay, hire and expand. Centralized control is not good.”

 

Rep. Calley, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

“Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

A $100 million credit for the creation of just 300 jobs is clearly unreasonable. Those same resources could be better directed toward broad based tax relief for companies already here, operating in Michigan. Do the math. That comes to over $333 thousand per job!”

 

Rep. Miller, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

“Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

The production of advanced battery technology, which this measure seeks to lure to Michigan, has been identified as a future cornerstone of the new Michigan economy. I applaud my colleagues’ efforts to diversify Michigan’s economy. However, it is a $25 million expenditure of forgone tax revenue that is as much budgetary decision as any comparable line item in the state budget. This occurs at a time when we are working to address the state’s structural deficit by seemingly endless cuts to human services for the most vulnerable. Simply put, we can’t afford this expenditure which is at best a targeted tax cut and at worst corporate welfare. We need to undertake a systematic revue of all our tax expenditures to ensure the taxpayers are getting their money’s worth.”

 

Rep. Elsenheimer, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

“Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

Although I support the Wixom project and the jobs it will create, I take issue with the way Democrat lawmakers rammed this bill through the Legislature. Republican lawmakers were not allowed to debate the bill and properly offered amendments were ignored, in violation of the spirit of House rules, violating the basic premise of our democratic system of government. Further, Rep. Hugh Crawford, whose district includes the Wixom property, was never consulted by the majority regarding these bills that will have a dramatic impact on his constituents.

In a larger sense, MEGA credits symbolize exactly what is wrong with our economic strategy here in Michigan. We need to get away from this flawed policy of going after jobs one-at-at-time by giving huge incentives to company ‘A’ but then raising taxes on companies B, C, D and E to pay for it. Instead, we should focus on lowering taxes for everyone so we can create a competitive business environment favorable to job growth.

These tax credits will cost the state of Michigan more than $300,000 per job created.

For these reasons, I cannot support this bill at this time.”