Tagged: republicans

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Business
5:01 pm
Tue April 30, 2013

Michigan lawmakers look for ways of closing the online sales tax loophole

Credit psmag.com

Michigan lawmakers are looking at how to get online retailers to collect state sales taxes.

Currently, shoppers are supposed to report any sales taxes they owe on online purchases, and pay them with their income tax.

But most people don’t.

State Representative Eileen Kowall’s bill would put the responsibility on the online retailer.   She’s quick to say this is not a tax increase, just making sure that the taxes that are owed are being paid.

Kowall says the current system puts Michigan’s ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers at an unfair disadvantage.

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Politics & Government
3:22 pm
Mon April 29, 2013

Is it time to expand workplace safety regulations in Michigan?

Union leaders are applauding a promise by state Democratic lawmakers to reinstate workplace safety regulations in Michigan.

The names of dozens of Michigan workers who died on the job were read aloud during a ceremony in Lansing. There are about 120 deaths in the workplace every year in Michigan.

Karla Swift is the president of the state AFL-CIO. She says Michigan workers need good safety regulations in place to protect them on the job "so that they come home after a day’s work in the same condition that they left in." 

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Politics & Government
8:26 pm
Mon April 15, 2013

Democrats call for repealing some state taxes

Credit Official portrait
House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel

State House Democrats spent “tax day” pushing a plan to repeal several state tax policies.
 

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Politics & Government
5:16 pm
Mon April 15, 2013

Pro Right-to-Work group now targeting Governor's road plan

Credit Steve Carmody/Michigan Radio
(file photo)

The conservative group that pushed for Michigan to become a Right-to-Work state wants Governor Snyder to drop his call for higher taxes to pay for repairing Michigan’s roads.

The governor wants the Legislature to approve higher gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees to raise more than a billion dollars to fix Michigan’s crumbling roads.

Scott Hagerstrom is the state director of Americans for Prosperity. He says Michigan shouldn’t be raising taxes.

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Politics & Government
7:28 pm
Mon April 8, 2013

Michigan Democrats want to cut state pension tax, boost K-12 funding

Credit Steve Carmody/Michigan Radio
State Capitol Building (file photo)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Minority Democrats in the Michigan House say pension income should no longer be taxed and other Republican-backed tax changes from 2011 should be repealed.

Democrats included the proposals in a list of budget priorities unveiled Monday in Lansing. House Democrats say their plan puts "families first," but it faces an uphill climb because Republicans control the Legislature.

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Transportation
1:45 pm
Sat April 6, 2013

Michigan road debate light on how money will be divided up

Credit Steve Carmody/Michigan Radio
(file photo)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The drive to fix Michigan's roads is centered on winning support from lawmakers for at least $1.2 billion a year in additional taxes and fees.

But hardly any attention is being paid to how that cash should be divvied up.

Gov. Rick Snyder wants the bulk of new revenue to go to a new fund that would pass along additional dollars to road agencies. Yet few specifics about how the money would be distributed have been released since his budget was unveiled two months ago.

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Politics & Government
9:00 am
Mon April 1, 2013

Michigan's governor doesn't think the state should repeal new tax on pensions

Credit Steve Carmody/Michigan Radio
Gov. Rick Snyder (R-MI) (file photo)

Governor Rick Snyder is cool to a proposal to roll back Michigan’s new pension tax.

The pension tax was part of a package enacted in 2011 that eliminated the Michigan Business Tax.

A group of five Republican state senators wants to repeal the pension tax and reinstate some homestead property tax credits.

Governor Snyder says the tax on pensions is just a matter of fairness, so that the tax burden falls equally. The governor insists the tax that pensioners are now paying is not too much ask.

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