State Senator Aric Nesbitt is calling for Governor Gretchen Whitmer to release a second budget.
Nesbitt tells us Whitmer’s first budget proposal, released this month, relies on some funding sources that may not come through. They include the rollback of an income tax cut from last year that was triggered by a 2015 law.
“Her budget’s built upon that, but there’s a lawsuit going on right now from small business owners and from taxpayers and some legislators saying that the tax increase is illegal, that there wasn’t an actual vote in the legislature,” Nesbitt said. “That’s going to go to the Court of Appeals. So, her budget’s built on that, along with a $670 million transfer that she’s doing to raid the teacher pension fund to spend on some other activities in her education budget.”
Nesbitt says taking money out of the teacher pension fund will only lead to problems later.
As for the income tax cut, the Michigan Court of Appeals will decide if the 4.05% income tax rollback triggered by state law in 2023 should be permanent, or increase back to 4.25% in 2024, as the Michigan Attorney General has ruled.
Nesbitt says state lawmakers started talking about the budget this week in committee. The Legislature generally seeks to have a new budget in place by July.
