Just another day in Lansing. Republicans obstructing. Going back on their word. But what else is new.
Republicans say the tax increase should be temporary and end in 2011, though they made an offer Wednesday to end the tax in 2012 instead. But Democrats, including Gov. Jennifer Granholm, want it to be permanent because there was an agreement to make the tax on services permanent, and they say they don't want to plunge the state back into another budget crisis down the road.
The income tax starts to sunset in 2011. But hey, why screw up only one budget year when you can screw up two, right?
And they still want to use yet another one-time fix.
The sides also disagree over the size of the surcharge and whether to replace all the $750 million that would be generated each year by the service tax. Republicans think some of the money can be replaced with extra, one-time revenue generated by switching to the MBT, but Democrats would rather that money be saved in Michigan's rainy day fund.
And according to the AP and MIRS, this is their final offer.
In a letter to House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford, Republicans who control the Senate said their new offer — which would keep some money in the rainy day fund and raise the MBT surcharge a bit — represents the "last opportunity" to avoid implementing the service tax.
I almost hate to mention this next bit of info- but check this out. They were talking of adding the Dems back to the ballot if we would just vote on extending their time in office.
According to four sources with knowledge of the discussions, key lawmakers of both parties in Lansing had discussed a deal that would have involved restoring the Democrats to the ballot and setting up a referendum on easing the state's legislative term limits. That would have required moving the primary from Jan. 15 to Jan. 29, in order to meet requirements for at least 60 days' notice before a statewide referendum.
Gee, I wonder what the outcome of that would be at this point.
Maybe some other time. Thanks for asking though.