
By Duke. Media: Redstate
We are now just under 12 months out from the primary to pick who will lead the Great Lakes State, known as Michigan. We are also known as the state that kinda looks like a mitten.
I can’t speak for everyone in the Great Lake State, although I should, but I can say that after seven and a half years of Gretchen Whitmer, it’ll be nice to get somebody that we hope is conservative and cares about the long-term viability of the state.
That is, of course, only if a conservative republican wins and not a Democrat or a Rick Snyder Republican conservative wannabe. We will address all of that at a later date and time.
So far, these are the people running I’ve found to be a bit more on the Republican side:
U.S. Rep. John James of Shelby Township, Michigan state House Speaker Tom Leonard of DeWitt Township, former Attorney General Mike Cox of Livonia, former U.S. House candidate Anthony Hudson of Grand Blanc Township, and state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt of Porter Township.
I’ll get into the Democrats running in some other post.
That is who we have so far on the GOP side, and just announced, there is a new contender who has thrown her hat into the ring:
Karla Wagner, the leader of a ballot proposal campaign to do away with property taxes in Michigan, has announced she’ll run to be the state’s next governor in 2026.
In a Friday interview with The Detroit News, Wagner, a 64-year-old Republican and a businesswoman from Kent County, described herself as a “nerd” who likes to deal with numbers and said she would use Michigan’s top elected position to help implement the abolition of property taxes.
Hold on a minute. Someone running for Governor of Michigan wants to eliminate the property taxes in this state? Can this be so? In Michigan?
Can this be true?
The Great Lakes State, for the whole time I’ve lived here (my ENTIRE LIFE) has allowed taxes upon taxes to be levied on people who live here as a benefit of being here, which is kind of dumb. Sorry if that hurts some people’s feelings, but it’s one of the reasons we continuously lose population with each census, and the left still wonders why Michigan, on occasion, turns purple.
Rick Snyder, who was the LAST GOP Governor we had, passed a budget of almost $57 billion. When Snyder took over from Jennifer Granholm, his first budget was $45 billion.
Here are some details from his last budget in 2018, before Gretch took over:
The Governor recommends FY 2018-19 Gross appropriations of $56.8 billion and Adjusted Gross appropriations of $55.9 billion. Included in this appropriation total are $22.7 billion of Federal funds, $385.9 million of local and private funds, $22.8 billion of State Restricted revenue, and $10.0 billion of GF/GP revenue. Table 1 outlines the sources of funding for each department and budget area included in the Governor’s recommendation. Figures A and B illustrate the total funding by source and major spending category. Compared with FY 2017-18 year-to-date appropriations, the Governor’s FY 2018-19 budget includes a Gross appropriation increase of $173.6 million or 0.3%, an increase in State Spending from State Resources appropriations of $599.8 million or 1.9%, and a decrease in GF/GP appropriations of $32.1 million or 0.3%.
So, a 12 billion dollar increase during the eight years Rick was at the helm.
That, of course, is peanuts compared to what Gretchen Whitmer’s last budget proposal is. Just a cool $83 billion and some change:
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday proposed an $83.5 billion budget for 2026 that draws on continued strength in state revenues to boost support for education and local governments, pay for improvements to state parks and computer systems, and further strengthen Michigan’s already healthy reserve funds.
From $57 billion to almost $84 billion in almost eight years, and the folks in Lansing wonder why people are leaving this state.
Michigan needs competent leadership, and a tax break would not hurt the actual people who want to stay here. I know that might be a bit stunning for a center-right publication to advocate for, but it is what it is.
The state of Michigan, which at one time put America on wheels, has been suffering quite frankly since GOP governor John Engler left the state capital back in 2002.
The best I (we) can hope for is that some of these candidates running on the Republican side are actual conservatives fiscally and will bring some sanity back to the spending, which we currently suffer from in the state.
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