Gov. Snyder's budget proposal might be more palatable if done incrementally
Editor’s note: Martha Toth is the president of the Van Buren Schools Board of Education, and notes the views expressed in this opinion piece are hers, and not that of the school board or district.
Martha Toth
Others are just as upset over the taxing of pensions, the elimination of the earned income tax credit, the reduction of the homestead property tax credit, the massive reduction in revenue sharing with cities and townships, the unprecedented cut to university funding (while, strangely, not cutting community college funding at all), or the concessions demanded of state employees.
Or it could simply be that the overall 86 percent drop in business taxes and 32 percent increase in personal income taxes is perceived as manifestly unfair and the very antithesis of "shared sacrifice."
The governor and our legislators need to hear these complaints, of course. But I would like to suggest another line of argument that is more philosophical than detail-oriented.
Gov. Snyder believes that an improved business climate will rescue our state from its decade-long recession. Granting his premise that an improved business climate is our goal, there is more than one way to achieve that - or to torpedo it.
What business supposedly wants is stability and predictability in expenses, along with a certain quality of life that allows the attraction of talent. Other things being equal, employers would naturally prefer lower taxes, wages, and other costs of doing business. But plenty of evidence demonstrates that these are not the only or even the most important considerations.
The governor believes that simpler, fairer and lower business taxes will produce the ideal business climate that fosters strong growth. He is determined to make changes on an unprecedented scale all at once -- too fast for many of us to adjust. The result will be unimaginable disarray: many hundreds of municipalities and school districts thrown immediately into insolvency, disrupting the most basic of societal services (safety, education, and administration). If many hundreds of Emergency Financial Managers step into the breach and restructure how all of these entities function, there will be an added level of angst and public furor.
Would not all of this instability (not to mention drop in quality of life) deter investment and job creation more profoundly than the current problems he seeks to solve?
It is not simply that the governor is politically inexperienced. He is a technocrat who appears to have no appreciation of the very real effects of emotional upheaval - even upon fellow technocrats who own and manage businesses. He is missing an entire class of potential side effects and collateral damage from his proposals.
I think he is open to rational argument, though. This is one argument that may reach and resonate with him. He can still get most of what he wants if he is willing to do it more incrementally: set up the change process but phase in the implementation.
This will make wholesale changes more palatable to various constituencies, more politically feasible, and more easily subject to course correction after we see how they are working in reality.
Gov. Snyder thinks he is doing the right thing for Michigan. Perhaps we can convince him that he could do it in a better, more careful, and ultimately more effective way.
Martha Toth has a BA from the University of Maryland-College Park in government and politics, completed student teaching and graduate work at University of the Philippines, as well as additional graduate study in education at Eastern Michigan University. She has worked since 2002 for the nonprofit organization Michigan Reach Out, which trains and links mentors with at-risk youth.
Comments
ordinary_joe
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 : 1:11 a.m.
Wow - this is a really interesting collection of comments to follow. Considering that the author is not requesting anything but restraint in the pacing of change, the level of vitriol is really shocking! First of all - give a little benefit of the doubt. As a schoolboard president, I'm sure Ms. Toth has seen firsthand over the last few years the hard realities of accommodating budget cuts while keeping a ship (the schools) afloat. Might she not know something about paring back, and how to do it strategically while preserving the essential functions of an organization? Have any of the commenters here ever been in charge of a multi-million dollar budget, balancing things like personnel issues, equipment costs (e.g., bus fleets), legal requirements (e.g., the requirement that public schools provide certain minimum levels of - very expensive - service to disabled kids), etc.? Why do we implicitly trust the word and try to grant the requests of those who run companies, while raking over the coals the informed opinions of those on the front lines of public service? Shouldn't we listen to *both* sides? Ms. Toth isn't even asking Snyder to derail his plans, just to slow them, which sounds awfully reasonable - and sensible - to me. Do we, as a society, even remember how to think long-term anymore, and understand why that might be a good idea? The unfortunate truth is that, much like a large ocean-going vessel, large organizations cannot be turned on a dime - there is too much momentum involved, and trying to apply enough force to make such a turn immediately is likely to break the ship's hull and sink it. Now, I suppose that some of the commenters here would respond that this is a great thing, and that we need smaller organizations, but there will be a long period of chaos before new, smaller "ships" can be built, if they can be built at all. Which would-be employees of these would-be companies will stick around for that to happen when good jobs can be had elsewher
sparty2219
Mon, Apr 25, 2011 : 2:46 a.m.
Snyder should #1....contribute to his own healthcare, like everyone else. #2....pay for his own gas to commute to and from Lansing, because he chose not to stay at the Governor's Mansion. He lives in A2. #3....not look so much as how much money can we save, but how many jobs can I create. JOB CREATION is the Key!!!! What industry will make Michigan Boom??? #4...contribute to his pension, like everyone else does. #5...be recalled!!!! The state is NOT a business. The State of Michigan is in need of a leader that can create jobs, bring back stability and educate the public on what we need to do as a team rather than making us live in fear!!!! AMEN...good night everyone!
DonBee
Mon, Apr 25, 2011 : 3:10 p.m.
sparty - He took a $1 a year salary. He chose to stay in his house for his family and also because it would not save the state money if he moved into the mansion - operational costs - heat, light, cleaning, security would have all been dumped on the tax payers. As far as I can tell, he is using his own vehicle to commute. Who is paying for the gas, I cannot tell you. We will have to wait for the financial reports to be released by the state. If it is like it was in 2010, the reports will lag expense requests by about 7 months. As to job creation, no one here is discussing the review of over 19,000 regulations that the state has created. This is one of the keys to making Michigan more competitive. We have regulations on the books that go back to pre-World War II. In some cases the regulations contradict each other. The Governor created LARA to centralize regulation and licensing, so that one group of people in the state government would be responsible for almost all the regulations. The goal being to rationalize the regulatory environment. But no one wants to talk about making it easier to do business and for the regulations to get more rational.
grye
Mon, Apr 25, 2011 : 2:13 p.m.
#1. Why just one person in govt. What about all the state representative and state senators? #2. Do you know that he doesn't pay for his gas? And if he doesn't, look at the money save by not utilizing the governor's residence? We are not paying for him to live in his house. #3. He is trying to create an atmosphere with taxation policies that allow businesses to grow. #4. He really doesn't have to worry about a pension. #5. You want to recall him before he has accomplished anything? Do you throw out the Thanksgiving turkey before it is finished cooking in the anticipation it might not taste good? Give it a chance. As I stated in #3, he is creating policies to help businesses to grow. I don't see a whole lot of social issue stuff coming out of his office. He is pretty focused on taking care of the economic problems.
Martin
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 3:55 p.m.
Ms. Toth's commentary is thoughtful, reasonable, and forward-looking. She deserves better responses than the inexplicably angry, impatient, and incoherent ones I have been reading here.
godsbreath64
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 4:29 p.m.
She is just parroting Richard dean Snyder's 3rd World Michigan or Bust. Shame on her and whatever she is getting paid for this.
DonBee
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 1:49 p.m.
Incremental - Just like Governor Granholm did? Using every trick in the book to push the problem into the future? Incremental means - "Don't touch mine - leave ME alone" Well, the future is now. We don't have the stimulus money. We don't have any more assets that the government wants to sell, there are no rainy day funds. Unemployment is stuck, and the jobs that show up pay much less than the jobs that disappeared. McDonald's anyone? More taxes probably need to happen, I am willing to pony up, provided we start to fix the structural problems - pension obligations to state and local employees being the largest one. Incremental - What Ms Toth is asking for is to not touch anything - kick the can down the road some more. The recall actions will speed things up - one on of the unintended consequences of the recall effort.
David Briegel
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 1:42 p.m.
Bragg, How do you feel about a gaggle of "patriotic" corporations coming together to influence (bribe) the people (gov't) making decisions about their regulation and tax rates? No conflict of interest? Are corporations a "sacred class" of people"? Don't you wish Teddy Roosevelt would bust up those huge corporations to give the citizens a choice? Is it only evil when it is unions? Which "class" is a union? Which "class" is a corp?
InsideTheHall
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 1:25 p.m.
Stop! Ms. Toth speaks with forked tongue. The school aid fund has a surplus because "obama candy" err stimulus money has been used for the last two years to plug the budget holes. Now that money can and should be used as a real economic stimulus and not plugging a budget hole. School systems have known this for two years now. Well, now that Obama has run out of candy (our tax dollars) the Rev. Wright chickens have come home to roost. What steps has Ms Toth taken in the last two years to prepare for this day of reckoning?????? Zip, zero, nada! Reinventing Michigan is underway and Ms. Toth needs an extreme makeover.
godsbreath64
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 1:18 p.m.
Have all the beliefs you wish, brag'. But yield when they are dismissed as merely a party showing itself at every turn to be purely wanton. It has no public credibility and only a profylactic for the corporate coup of Michigan, et. al. Please let your narratives dry out for a while. Teachers are not slumbering in politics as you illustrate you do, but rather getting our children ready to take care of us. They are a valued priority, not what your thesaurus can find. How exactly(factually, brag') is education a monopoly, again with charters, parochials, ect ...? Do you have any affinity to the truth, brag? If you want to give them choices, go volunteer your time, talents and money DIRECTLY in their lives, not glorify their hyper-partisan predators. You will feel much, MUCH better about yourself when you look in the mirror. I am pulling for you, brag.
godsbreath64
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 8:42 p.m.
It would help Michigan, et.al. if the accurate site conveyed, makes it completely to post as is: <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42672552" rel='nofollow'>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42672552</a>
Will Warner
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 7:08 p.m.
Seriously, godsbreath, beyond the fact that you hold in contempt Richard Dale Synder and anyone who disagrees with you, it's pretty hard to get what you are saying.
godsbreath64
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 6:44 p.m.
Care to make a commitment to liberty, Marsh? <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2631108/#42672552" rel='nofollow'>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2631108/#42672552</a>
godsbreath64
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 6:18 p.m.
I consistently get approval the few times the "thread" police lets the criticism of Richard Dale Snyder fo through. Move on to your other squirmy slurs now, Marsh.
Marshall Applewhite
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 6:08 p.m.
@braggslaw That is one of the funniest things I've read all day. I've been wondering if anyone else could make sense of anything godsbreath posts.
Will Warner
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 6 p.m.
You have a way with words, bragg.
braggslaw
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 4:13 p.m.
Well by all means obfuscation permutation of liberal pergamanation and further exclamation of all your agenda that mirrors the pendantic pointings of bifillial recommendations. Of course that amalgamation of a confiscation of liberal mediation creation
godsbreath64
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 2:24 p.m.
Finally, we agree. There are night classes everywhere, brag. Good luck to you.
braggslaw
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 1:43 p.m.
I have no idea what you said...
godsbreath64
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 1 p.m.
Richard Dale Snyder has an obligation to the constitutional MI and it's children,"Chelsea". This article is trumpeting the counter-republican chicken hawks single drum, "the sky is falling. Trust us once again. Abandone The Great State of Michigan and turn it into a third world state." He is only campaigning for some hopeful minutia of credibility in him and his syndicate with the other than constituency in the public at large. There is no disputing all things are not political, Bobby. One can only skim your master sophistry from the drain down at the partisan theater to avoid the requisite faith the children deserve, but are being denied this year in MI. Please stop your pain campaign, at least until the corporations experience any whatsoever.
braggslaw
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 12:51 p.m.
godsb, I believe public unions are wrong and create the wrong dynamics. Public unions acting in their own interests will continue to try to take more money from taxpayers. Teachers are not a "sacred" class of people, they should be subject to the same economics as all professions. I also believe the consumer (parents/children) should have more choice, choice leads to better services for the consumer. Of course the public education monopoly is important to teacher's unions and there will be a battle to focus schools on teaching rather than providing jobs and benefits.
ChelseaBob
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 11:52 a.m.
The governor does not have the luxury of working slowly and incrementally. We are facing billions of dollars of deficits, and years of simply avoiding the problem and passing it on to the next year have left no choice but substantial painful changes. The bills are now coming due, and must be paid. The change in business taxes has nothing to do with "fairness", it has to do with competing for jobs. Businesses are not operating in a vacuum. When deciding where to locate, they have 49 other choices. While Michigan has many advantages (location, infrastructure, skilled labor) the tax and regulatory environment has driven job creation elsewhere for a decade. Changing the tax structure will create much more revenue over the next few year, as we see more business and more jobs. Property values will rise again, and property tax revenue will increase. But we have sacrifice today to get there in the future.
godsbreath64
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 11:51 a.m.
You reliably leave out corporate tax amnesty, brag'. Teachers are not at a trough, they are. The former are teaching, so stop slurring the ones would shape our youth. Battle for them, or admit your poloiti have a problem with teachers. This opposition is void of factual mooring.
godsbreath64
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 : 3:16 a.m.
We have thought about it, don. That is why Richard Dale Snyder will be replaced in a matter of weeks. You can yammer all the false choices and ignoratio elanchi you want. He is still toast in the constitutional State.
DonBee
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 1:37 p.m.
I have no problem with Teachers or what they are paid. I do have a concern for my children and the cost that they will have to pay to fill the unfunded pension needs of those teachers and other state and local employees. We need to get pension and medical costs under control, or we as a state will end up filing for bankruptcy. Right now the total amount that we are behind is more than 15 months of the total budget of state and local governments - if we stopped all services and payroll for 15 months we could close that gap. Governor Granholm did not close the gap, she kicked the can down the road. Some communities in the state now pay more for pension and retiree medical benefits than they do for all current services. Want to saddle your children with these issues? Now think about it, to close the gap in a reasonable amount of time without reform means doubling or more all taxes in the state. Anyone for 12 percent sales tax?
godsbreath64
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 11:42 a.m.
At every turn, Richard Dale Snyder shows he is opposed to doing "the right thing for Michigan". This is why incremenalization must be pondered in the "first" place. One can't ignore State and Federal constitutions at all, let alone for a public good, and still hold a straight-face claim to be ad rem on behalf of the public at large. His constituency, though, is another story. The author's narrative is alarming. She specializes in the third world pedagogic that she was schooled in. Michigan children, however, deserve at least the constitutional approach to society. Incrementation is only for the sham polling mills and obfuscates the principle wanton underpinning this need.
godsbreath64
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 : 2:54 a.m.
That it because you are rabid and blind for a wanton executive branch and judiciary here in Michigan this year, don. The words come from a twisted man who can't even own up to simply them, not anything to do with me. Nice try, though. But they ARE your words ; D The right to self determination and liberty to contract is not in dispute. Substantive due process claims will prevail on behalf of the constitutional America and Michigan. These are only refrained by you and your ilk. Maybe this will help <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42757267" rel='nofollow'>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42757267</a> The new governor will be installed soon. Look out for your health and prepare for such. I am pulling for you, don.
DonBee
Mon, Apr 25, 2011 : 2:07 a.m.
Nice hack job on what I wrote, twisting the sentence to your own purpose. I still do not see any evidence. All I see is Hyperbole. If you have evidence, present it. Or, since you seem to be a lawyer - go file your own lawsuit.
godsbreath64
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 2:21 p.m.
"Given ...the ...corruption by the federal government, ...it would be easy ... to get the(m) to file against the Governor if he has violated the constitution" Are you still asleep? Your posts continue your free-fall out of essential logic, don. Richard Dale Snyder couldn't be pinned down long enough at all before and during these 113 days in his virgin public sector run and for specifically this reason. As well, as long as Bobby Young heads down the MI judiciary, public confidence in such can't be rationally pinpointed. We have seen time and time again they don't remain committed to the law when it conflicts with partisanship. The People's right to self-determination and liberty to contract sovereignty come to mind, don. Should this thread include my response this time to your dare to establish his constitutional violate, you now must abandon your party, administration and "judiciary" argumentum ad ignoratiam. Torts make filing lawsuits in law abiding judiciaries easy; not corruption, don.
DonBee
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 1:32 p.m.
godsbreath64 - Ignoring the constitution? Show me where? If he has ignored the constitution there is a lawsuit or two that should be filed. Has there been? Given the focus on Michigan and corruption by the Federal Government, I would think it would be easy to get the Federal government to file against the Governor if he has violated the constitution.
braggslaw
Sun, Apr 24, 2011 : 11:27 a.m.
Snyder must balance the timing and amount of political capital he has... he can't fight a 100 battles, he needs to fight one or two big battles. Time is of the essence. There will be many people who are angered by this, people who don't pay state income tax (pensioners), groups that benefit from high state taxes (public employee unions), etc. and there will be groups that benefit (small companies and large companies). It all depends on what side of the public trough you are on and where you believe that real growth and wealth is created.