Detailing the failure of Michigan’s low-tax strategy
Michigan's low-tax strategy has failed. Since 2000 Michigan has experienced––in good times and bad and no matter which party has been in control in Lansing––far worse than the nation employment and wage growth. In 2000 Michigan accounted for 3.6 percent of the nation's employment. In 2021 it had fallen to 2.9 percent. If Michigan's employment were still 3.6 percent of…
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 Association of Michigan; and Brad…
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 to pay for basic necessities.…
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 of a decades-long tradition of…
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 50 percent. The reason for…