We have a very important race for Governor coming this November here in Michigan.  Why, because we do not have an incumbent running thus a brand new Governor of Michigan will be elected.

What does that mean for us Michiganders when it comes to our taxes?

First you should know that our personal state income tax was raised from 3.90% back in 2007 to 4.35%.  This rise was during the Granholm administration.

Back October 2007. Michigan faced an economy in free fall and a state budget in crisis. Granholm and legislative leaders hammered out a deal that resulted in one of the largest tax hikes in Michigan history, roughly $1.5 billion.

Michigan employers got hit with a 22% surcharge on top of the already burdensome Michigan Business Tax. The rest of us who work in Michigan saw our rates increased to 4.35% of their earnings, up from 3.9 percent for an estimated $760 million in new revenue.

Here is the kicker at the time of the increase our legislators assured us the increase would only be temporary. The rate they promised would be rolled back down beginning in 2012, and it would hit 3.9% again by 2015. By then, lawmakers figured, the Michigan economy would be well on its way toward a full recovery.

Well that roll back never happened.  Our legislators went back on their promise, who would have ever thought that would happen.

Today the Republican candidate for Governor Attorney General Bill Schuette would like to reduce our state’s personal income tax rate to the 3.90% we were promised in 2007.  That sounds like a fair thing to do, does it not?

The Democratic candidate for Governor former State Senator who was in the Michigan Senate in 2007 and was one of the legislators who promised Michiganders that she would vote to roll back our state income tax to 3.90% but never did and now wants to keep our state income tax at the current 4.25%.  Going back once again on the promise of the Granholm administration as well as Gretchen and her colleagues promise.

Gretchen Whitmer has spoken about eliminating the state's pension tax.  What did surprise me was she is now talking about raising our gas taxes once again to pay for infrastructure just like they just did to us a couple of years ago.  In fact she has stated that if the Legislature is unwilling to raise taxes she is going to ask us voters to approve taking on another $3 billion dollars in debt.

Unbelievable!

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