Expanding Michigan’s refundable Earned Income Tax Credit
Below is the text of a letter to the Governor, Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House sent by Tom Hickson, Vice President of Public Policy and Advocacy Michigan Catholic Conference; Andrew T. Johnston Senior Vice President, Advocacy & Strategic Engagement Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce; Alexa Kramer, Director of Government Operations Small Business […]
Post pandemic still too many low-wage jobs
To us the data are clear: Michigan has a two-tier economy. This two-tier economy is prevalent across all of Michigan and across all races and ethnicities. And it predates the pandemic, as evidenced by the Michigan Association of United Ways findings that in Michigan’s strong 2019 economy nearly four in ten Michigan households were unable […]
Indiana’s failed low tax economic strategy
A decade ago in a column for Dome we made the case that Indiana’s low tax economic strategy was a failure and would continue to fail going forward. We wrote: The Mackinac Center for Public Policy on Monday is hosting an event with Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels as the featured speaker. This is a continuation […]
Upper income households by education attainment
A new Pew Research Center analysis calculates the proportion of lower income, middle income and upper income households in 1971 and 2021. The headline of the analysis is the shrinking of the American middle class over the last half century. 61 of American households in 1971 were middle income. In 2021 that had declined to […]
Brian Calley makes the case for EITC expansion
Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM) President and CEO Brian Calley in an interview with the Michigan Association of United Ways made the case for why a big expansion of the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is good for Michigan businesses. You can watch the relevant portion of the interview here. Highly recommended. At […]
Could the Detroit Three be mobility industry minnows?
The New York Times in an article entitled Jim Farley tries to reinvent Ford and catch up to Elon Musk and Tesla writes: Yet Wall Street still thinks that Tesla, which is worth more than $1 trillion, will dominate the industry and that companies like Ford, worth $62 billion, and G.M., $58 billion, will become […]
44 percent of Metro Detroit jobs pay middle class wages
Important new metro Detroit educational attainment report from the Detroit Regional Chamber entitled 2022 State of Talent. Worth checking out. The report portrays a region that continues to be a laggard in post-secondary attainment. And the negative impact that has on household well being and the region’s overall prosperity. The Chamber writes: The data in […]
Big cities are where today’s college students want to live
Conventional wisdom has it that big cities are dead. This time the cause of their predicted demise is the pandemic. It is widely believed that since you can now work from home combined with a long-lasting fear of crowded places that big cities are toast. There is one big problem with this theory. When asked […]
Why Intel’s chip plant is going to metro Columbus
Recently Intel announced they are going to invest an initial $20 billion in a new chip fabrication plant in metro Columbus Ohio. Initial because Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger indicated that Columbus could become “the largest semiconductor manufacturing location on the planet.” With a total investment of $100 billion in eight fabrication plants. The first plant […]
Michigan chambers of commerce support Earned Income Tax Credit expansion
A big expansion of Michigan’s Earned Income Tax Credit benefits both workers and business. Twelve Michigan chambers of commerce agree. They lay out their case for support of a big expansion of the state’s earned income tax credit in a letter to the Governor and legislative leadership. They write: Dear Governor Whitmer and Quadrant Leaders, […]