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So what does everyone think...

they just raised taxes in an attempt to balance a budget that is failing due to a continuing recession, a mass exodus of residents, and unfettered government spending.
 
moving as soon as I graduate.

I cant believe it took those stubborn babies THAT long to come up with such a piece of **** plan, seriously. Raise taxes and cut government spending? Thats the brilliant plan that scared the **** out of the whole ****ing state because we thought we would be without a budget for some time? GOD DAMN IT I hate Michigan's government.
 
Pope said:
they just raised taxes in an attempt to balance a budget that is failing due to a continuing recession, a mass exodus of residents, and unfettered government spending.
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So how much did they raise taxes? Is this income tax?
 
green SVT said:
So how much did they raise taxes? Is this income tax?
Click to expand...

They increased the income tax from 3.9% to 4.35% which is not a huge increase, but when the government is squandering it's resources any increase is too much.

They also extended the state sales tax to include services and some goods that were previously untaxed, taking an additional 6% from the pockets of the citizens when they try to live. This would not be quite so bad if it had been applied universally, but it was not:

Living on a budget, trying to be frugal and responsible, you decide to have a will made up so you explore you options: you can either use a document preparation service and now pay 6% more or go to lawyer and not pay the service tax. Discount document preparation services exist for a reason and it is not because the majority of people using them have excess funds.

Or say you are an active person and you enjoy the outdoors so you make a point of engaging in out door activities. Well, if you made the mistake of learning to downhill ski you are now going to be socked with an additional 6% on your lift ticket, BUT if you are a golfer, have no fear, the tax will not apply to green fees. (Thankfully, the winters in Michigan have not been all too snowy the past few years, so there will not be much revenue generated on the backs of skiers)

The examples go on and on; if it's a service that is primarily used by avg. people, it is taxed, if it is a service that the dumbocrat legislatures like to use, not taxed.

BTW, No Republican Legislatures Voted To Extend The Sales Tax. We also owe it to them that the income tax only went up to 4.35% and not the minimum of 4.6% that the dumbocrats were fighting for.
 
Pope said:
They increased the income tax from 3.9% to 4.35% which is not a huge increase, but when the government is squandering it's resources any increase is too much.

They also extended the state sales tax to include services and some goods that were previously untaxed, taking an additional 6% from the pockets of the citizens when they try to live. This would not be quite so bad if it had been applied universally, but it was not:

Living on a budget, trying to be frugal and responsible, you decide to have a will made up so you explore you options: you can either use a document preparation service and now pay 6% more or go to lawyer and not pay the service tax. Discount document preparation services exist for a reason and it is not because the majority of people using them have excess funds.

Or say you are an active person and you enjoy the outdoors so you make a point of engaging in out door activities. Well, if you made the mistake of learning to downhill ski you are now going to be socked with an additional 6% on your lift ticket, BUT if you are a golfer, have no fear, the tax will not apply to green fees. (Thankfully, the winters in Michigan have not been all too snowy the past few years, so there will not be much revenue generated on the backs of skiers)

The examples go on and on; if it's a service that is primarily used by avg. people, it is taxed, if it is a service that the dumbocrat legislatures like to use, not taxed.

BTW, No Republican Legislatures Voted To Extend The Sales Tax. We also owe it to them that the income tax only went up to 4.35% and not the minimum of 4.6% that the dumbocrats were fighting for.
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Well said. Let us hope that they introduce no additional taxes, regressive or otherwise.

All of this is made all the more unfortunate by the fact that Michigan is quite a fine state. Lots of pretty country, the lakes, and important industry should keep people in the state. It's no good that governmental mismanagement is overshadowing some of that.
 
It's unfortunate that people have turned to buying foreign cars.


Ford Motor Company headquarters is here in Michigan. So a huge amount of fords income is taxed right here in Michigan. Too bad everyone is turning to foreign cars which is in return bringing in less cash for the state.

Very interesting to say the least.

Heck Michigan's gas tax is retarded at best. Too bad they promised 100% of tax would go to roads. Which 73% was only used, I wonder where the 28% went :help:
 
If Ford, GM, or Chrysler made anything i would have wanted to buy when i got a car i probably would have, but they didn't.

They're finally starting to make some decent cars, but Ford's lineup is basically bland and boring besides the Mustang.

Fact of the matter is, if the Big 3 built the best cars they would sell the most cars, until they start doing that again they won't regain ground.
 
Barge said:
Fact of the matter is, if the Big 3 built the best cars they would sell the most cars, until they start doing that again they won't regain ground.
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This is not entirely correct. There is a lot of negative media bias towards the American OEM's, much of which is based upon the days of extremely poor quality in the 80's and 90's and not true today. Plus, for some reason, there seems to be a lot of reporters and writers jumping on the Toyota bandwagon - raving over great quality while writing off problems as "flukes" and doing the opposite for the Detroit companies. Detroit screwed itself badly in the past but has come a long way in terms of quality and doesn't seem to receive much credit for it.
 
Yeah, they're built a lot better, but there is no american car under about 35k that I would buy and even then, the number is extremely limited.

Mustang, Camaro, Charger SRT-8, Challenger, G8

So only 2 of those are actually available right now and the SRT-8 is over 35k.

Edit: Subaru was partially owned by GM when i bought one :)
 
Just thought I'd throw in that I don't think I've ever been more disgusted with our Governor than right now. I heard her on the news the other day stating that she will support all legislators who are being targeted with recalls and that she applaudes their efforts in voting; calling their vote "courageous."

I almost puked; the rest of my drive to work was spent yelling at the car radio about how stupid and selfish our "elected" representatives are and what a downfall the 2-party system truly is. Yuk.
 
So who's gonna be the first person on here to admit they voted for her? Hopefully the intelligence level in the EGL CEG is higher than that.
 
Barge said:
Yeah, they're built a lot better, but there is no american car under about 35k that I would buy and even then, the number is extremely limited.

Mustang, Camaro, Charger SRT-8, Challenger, G8

So only 2 of those are actually available right now and the SRT-8 is over 35k.

Edit: Subaru was partially owned by GM when i bought one :)
Click to expand...

I agree with a lot of your sentiments about not wanting to buy one becuase you don't like the selection - I share a lot of the same thoughts....there are very few that I like too that are at all practical (I don't really have use for another two-door car to drive daily and cannot fathom buying an SUV.) I would really like to see an offering from Chrysler in the form of a 300c and/or Charger with a manual trans. Maybe we'll see something to that effect when the Challenger comes out.:) Also nice would be a American competitor in the same realm of performance as the STi or Evo.

As for Subaru being owned by GM - I had a friend who bought one, citing the same reason. Either way, the WRX is a fantastic machine.
 
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