Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome back to Michigan's Big Show starring Michael Patrick Shields.
I'm Kyle Malin, editor of the Murrs newsletter. After a
long week at the state Capitol, a couple all nighters
for state government, including one on Yon Kapor, which was
really interesting, join us now to talk about it in debrief.
James Holman, director of Fiscal policy at the Macanas Center,
(00:32):
Thanks for joining us. James, you were lucky not having
to pull the all nighters with us, I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yes, yes, And thank you guys for all the coverage.
Thank you for staying up. I know it's a frustrating business,
especially with these kind of deals where there's no news
until you have all of the news.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
See, that's that's really a strange, a strange dynamic dynamics.
On Tuesday night Wednesday morning, it was it was almost
entirely just sit around and wait because all the all
the news, all the action was going on behind closed doors.
And then as it got close to midnight, then they
(01:11):
finally decided, well, I guess, I guess we should probably
just do this continuation budget for a week. But then
that that didn't get done and that didn't get signed
until four in the morning on Wednesday, and so technically
the state government did shut down for four hours even
though nothing happened, which was unlike two thousand and seven,
where it was like panic, hair on fire, like oh
(01:33):
my god, we shut government down for four hours, but
it was the exact same thing.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, it's strange that that it works.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Huh, Well, what was your takeaway, James?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Tell me?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Tell me what. They finally did pass a final budget
Thursday night, Yam Kapoor Day, going into Friday morning. It
spends less money than it did the year before. Does
that make it a win?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, I mean, we'll see how it goes. Because if
you're spending less money because you just didn't have as
much as you'd like to spend, that's not exactly practicing restraint.
And we recommend practicing restraint for a number of reasons.
I mean, things can pop up in a year. There's
some there's some debts that you can pay down if
you spend less now. But I don't know that they
(02:17):
did that. But I mean, look, not every and this
is this is a practical point for the budget and
why I'm kind of happy with what they came up with.
I mean, no one's going to get everything that they wanted.
But I like a lot of what they came.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Down with, but give us a couple of things that
you really like. Out of the state budget, they passed.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
A road deal that mostly spends more on roads without
raising taxes. Counties are going to get about thirty six
percent more than they did last year. Cities and villages
are going to get thirty one percent more than they
got last year. And it's not lawmakers directing them on
specific problems. It's here's some money fix the roads that
(03:02):
to feel our best. And I think that's probably going
to get us over over replacement levels. Like the point
of I mean, what I wanted from road funding is
not to get to you know, ninety percent good at
or fair within a set time window, but rather just
to see that roads are going to be put together
faster than they fall apart for the foreseeable future. And
(03:24):
I think we're at that point, and we did it
mostly without raising taxes.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Now, what's your thoughts on the new wholesale tax on
marijuana that they crafted? Twenty four percent increase on the
wholesale price of marijuana, and so the marijuana industry is
saying you're going to collapse our industry here because people
are going to go to the black market.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, it's going to be worth checking out. I think
the benefits of legalization is that everything is above board
and that lawmakers get to at least see and regulate
the market that we have. And we lose those benefits
if you drive everything underground through punitive taxes. Is that
(04:06):
the case? Or is this or is this just you know,
an industry that doesn't want to face punitive taxes, which
no one should. But and so like, I don't know
that that their rates that they're that they're going to
be assessing is enough to drive drive everything through on
regulated markets. But we'll find out soon, won't we.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah we will.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, you know what, the syntaxes always seemed to be
a very popular thing for legislators just in general to
go after. I remember the two dollars increase on cigarettes
back in the day. Gaming is always a popular thing
to tax. I remember that the the tax on the
Big three Detroit casinos went up one time in order
(04:51):
to pay for for state government. So this isn't so
going after the syntaxes is kind of the low hanging fruit.
If you're going to vote for a tax increase in
be a Republican.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Uh yeah, which is kind of weird because we still
have pretty low beer and wine taxes. Not to give
lawmakers' ideas on how to take more from taxpayers, but
you know, if you look back and try to assess,
all right, if we're going to tax vices, what are
how should we do this? That's one that kind of
sticks out. And any same thing with liquor control that
(05:24):
we you know, state used to be in the liquor
control business more than it is right now.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
That beer tax is kind of wild. I mean, that
hasn't been touched in years, and it's like three cents
a bottle or something. I mean, it's super super low.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Especially when like if you're going to tax vices, it's
like it's it's the alcohol that you're taxing. You can
they're they're measuring that, that's on every bottle, Like you
should probably base your taxes not on uh, based on that,
if you're trying to tax device. But that being said,
that's not a conversation I really want to have. I
(06:01):
think the bottom line for this debate was that Democrats
were clear that their price for a deal was a
tax pyke. Any tax psych you figure it out, and
that's what they figured out.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, anything else strike you about this budget, whether it's
the ghost employees I kind of touched on that earlier,
the different earmarks, the transparency they're putting in on these
legislative spending items, which I think we would all call pork,
anything else.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, the state operates a program that allows lawmakers to
give whatever business they want, however many dollars they want
to give them in theoretically in exchange for jobs. So far,
this program has spent seven and twenty million dollars in
taxpayer money given that to companies, and those companies have
(06:50):
not created any jobs. It's a poorly structured program, and
part of this budget is to stop putting more money
into this program. I think that's a good idea that
money could and should and will go to better uses
in this upcoming budget.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
SORE program, I think is the one you're talking about,
Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund basically killed under this budget.
James Holman from the Macinaw Center has been a big
cyneca that program, and it is done dead in this budget.
Thanks for bringing that up and thanks for joining us
on the program. James Holman, director of Fiscal Policy at
the Macinaw Center. You're listening to Michigan's Big Show.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Looking for your next sunny getaway, whether it's to your
favorite theme park, relaxing, beach time, a golf trip, or
just feeling the sun on your face. Breeze Airways as
you covered with convenient NonStop flights from Lansing's Capital Region
International Airport to Sonny, Orlando and Fort Myers. Travel with
ease by visiting Flybreeze dot com or by downloading the
(07:53):
Breeze app. Fly Lansing on Breeze Airways. Seriously nice, shop
Meyer and bring more good to life with low prices
on everyday favorites and essentials.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
California Organic green or red seedless grapes are one ninety
nine pound, buy one, get one free fresh from Meyer.
Whole pork shoulder butt roast, stuck up on household items
like save two dollars on Meyer Ultra Liquid dish soap,
get four dollars off Meyer Ultra paper towels, twelve double rolls,
and don't forget to stop by the Meyer Pharmacy for
your flu shot available today while you shop. That's the
(08:25):
good life a good deal Better exclusions apply seemeyer dot
com for details.
Welcome back to Michigan's Big Show starring Michael Patrick Shields.
I'm Kyle Malin, editor of the Murrs newsletter. After a
long week at the state Capitol, a couple all nighters
for state government, including one on Yon Kapor, which was
really interesting, join us now to talk about it in debrief.
James Holman, director of Fiscal policy at the Macanas Center,
(00:32):
Thanks for joining us. James, you were lucky not having
to pull the all nighters with us, I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yes, yes, And thank you guys for all the coverage.
Thank you for staying up. I know it's a frustrating business,
especially with these kind of deals where there's no news
until you have all of the news.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
See, that's that's really a strange, a strange dynamic dynamics.
On Tuesday night Wednesday morning, it was it was almost
entirely just sit around and wait because all the all
the news, all the action was going on behind closed doors.
And then as it got close to midnight, then they
(01:11):
finally decided, well, I guess, I guess we should probably
just do this continuation budget for a week. But then
that that didn't get done and that didn't get signed
until four in the morning on Wednesday, and so technically
the state government did shut down for four hours even
though nothing happened, which was unlike two thousand and seven,
where it was like panic, hair on fire, like oh
(01:33):
my god, we shut government down for four hours, but
it was the exact same thing.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, it's strange that that it works.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Huh, Well, what was your takeaway, James?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Tell me?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Tell me what. They finally did pass a final budget
Thursday night, Yam Kapoor Day, going into Friday morning. It
spends less money than it did the year before. Does
that make it a win?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, I mean, we'll see how it goes. Because if
you're spending less money because you just didn't have as
much as you'd like to spend, that's not exactly practicing restraint.
And we recommend practicing restraint for a number of reasons.
I mean, things can pop up in a year. There's
some there's some debts that you can pay down if
you spend less now. But I don't know that they
(02:17):
did that. But I mean, look, not every and this
is this is a practical point for the budget and
why I'm kind of happy with what they came up with.
I mean, no one's going to get everything that they wanted.
But I like a lot of what they came.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Down with, but give us a couple of things that
you really like. Out of the state budget, they passed.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
A road deal that mostly spends more on roads without
raising taxes. Counties are going to get about thirty six
percent more than they did last year. Cities and villages
are going to get thirty one percent more than they
got last year. And it's not lawmakers directing them on
specific problems. It's here's some money fix the roads that
(03:02):
to feel our best. And I think that's probably going
to get us over over replacement levels. Like the point
of I mean, what I wanted from road funding is
not to get to you know, ninety percent good at
or fair within a set time window, but rather just
to see that roads are going to be put together
faster than they fall apart for the foreseeable future. And
(03:24):
I think we're at that point, and we did it
mostly without raising taxes.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Now, what's your thoughts on the new wholesale tax on
marijuana that they crafted? Twenty four percent increase on the
wholesale price of marijuana, and so the marijuana industry is
saying you're going to collapse our industry here because people
are going to go to the black market.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, it's going to be worth checking out. I think
the benefits of legalization is that everything is above board
and that lawmakers get to at least see and regulate
the market that we have. And we lose those benefits
if you drive everything underground through punitive taxes. Is that
(04:06):
the case? Or is this or is this just you know,
an industry that doesn't want to face punitive taxes, which
no one should. But and so like, I don't know
that that their rates that they're that they're going to
be assessing is enough to drive drive everything through on
regulated markets. But we'll find out soon, won't we.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah we will.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, you know what, the syntaxes always seemed to be
a very popular thing for legislators just in general to
go after. I remember the two dollars increase on cigarettes
back in the day. Gaming is always a popular thing
to tax. I remember that the the tax on the
Big three Detroit casinos went up one time in order
(04:51):
to pay for for state government. So this isn't so
going after the syntaxes is kind of the low hanging fruit.
If you're going to vote for a tax increase in
be a Republican.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Uh yeah, which is kind of weird because we still
have pretty low beer and wine taxes. Not to give
lawmakers' ideas on how to take more from taxpayers, but
you know, if you look back and try to assess,
all right, if we're going to tax vices, what are
how should we do this? That's one that kind of
sticks out. And any same thing with liquor control that
(05:24):
we you know, state used to be in the liquor
control business more than it is right now.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
That beer tax is kind of wild. I mean, that
hasn't been touched in years, and it's like three cents
a bottle or something. I mean, it's super super low.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Especially when like if you're going to tax vices, it's
like it's it's the alcohol that you're taxing. You can
they're they're measuring that, that's on every bottle, Like you
should probably base your taxes not on uh, based on that,
if you're trying to tax device. But that being said,
that's not a conversation I really want to have. I
(06:01):
think the bottom line for this debate was that Democrats
were clear that their price for a deal was a
tax pyke. Any tax psych you figure it out, and
that's what they figured out.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, anything else strike you about this budget, whether it's
the ghost employees I kind of touched on that earlier,
the different earmarks, the transparency they're putting in on these
legislative spending items, which I think we would all call pork,
anything else.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, the state operates a program that allows lawmakers to
give whatever business they want, however many dollars they want
to give them in theoretically in exchange for jobs. So far,
this program has spent seven and twenty million dollars in
taxpayer money given that to companies, and those companies have
(06:50):
not created any jobs. It's a poorly structured program, and
part of this budget is to stop putting more money
into this program. I think that's a good idea that
money could and should and will go to better uses
in this upcoming budget.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
SORE program, I think is the one you're talking about,
Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund basically killed under this budget.
James Holman from the Macinaw Center has been a big
cyneca that program, and it is done dead in this budget.
Thanks for bringing that up and thanks for joining us
on the program. James Holman, director of Fiscal Policy at
the Macinaw Center. You're listening to Michigan's Big Show.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Looking for your next sunny getaway, whether it's to your
favorite theme park, relaxing, beach time, a golf trip, or
just feeling the sun on your face. Breeze Airways as
you covered with convenient NonStop flights from Lansing's Capital Region
International Airport to Sonny, Orlando and Fort Myers. Travel with
ease by visiting Flybreeze dot com or by downloading the
(07:53):
Breeze app. Fly Lansing on Breeze Airways. Seriously nice, shop
Meyer and bring more good to life with low prices
on everyday favorites and essentials.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
California Organic green or red seedless grapes are one ninety
nine pound, buy one, get one free fresh from Meyer.
Whole pork shoulder butt roast, stuck up on household items
like save two dollars on Meyer Ultra Liquid dish soap,
get four dollars off Meyer Ultra paper towels, twelve double rolls,
and don't forget to stop by the Meyer Pharmacy for
your flu shot available today while you shop. That's the
(08:25):
good life a good deal Better exclusions apply seemeyer dot
com for details.
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