|
NAVIGATION
|
|
Dillon supports big business monopolies, killing competition and $1 Billion tax hikes, oh my!By Nick, Section News
Here we go again. First the governor of the state of Michigan proposes a $1.5 billion tax hike scheme focusing on legal services, movie theatres and coffee baristas and now, realizing residents are more likely to kick his members out of office than support the plan after months of holding his finger to the breeze, House Speaker Andy Dillon is beginning to show his hand, a $1 billion tax hike on utility companies with an added component to make things that much worse.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Dillon yesterday in a meeting with utility execs released plans to push the billion dollar spike in costs onto DTE and Consumers Energy, Michigan's two largest electricity providers. In exchange for the added expense to do business here in the state he's offering them quite the pay off. He'd like to move to change Michigan law to allow them to hold a monopoly in the state, eliminating their competition and permitting them to raise rates however and whenever they see fit with no checks and balances coming from the market place. But it's not a service tax hike so it won't cost the citizens of Michigan a penny (or two), right? Yeah, not quite. Read on...
FREEP cites two different experts, one unnamed and another, Don Reading, an economist specializing in utility regulation for Ben Johnson Associates, who each emphasize that DTE and CE would pass these costs directly along to consumers. But so what, you don't own a giant mansion. You can expect the Speaker and 2010 gubernatorial candidate to release numbers showing how the hike would result in an $8 annual rate increase for the average Michigan family or some other ridiculously small amount designed to make opponents look like really really mean people who can't give up a couple of Burger King value meals to prevent the impending apocalypse.
What they won't tell you is that the rest of that billion dollars is going to be made up through rate increases affecting businesses, including Michigan's struggling manufacturing industry (the same industry that's lost over 200,000 jobs in the last couple years). Assuming the rate hikes don't drive an embattled company out of business, and these days that's not a safe assumption, they're going to take that extra expense and pass that along to their consumers. Auto suppliers will pass it along to the big three. The big three will pass it down to the salesroom floor. Fewer American cars will sell. The problem is exacerbated. See how tax hikes work in the real world? But even more troubling is the idea of buying the utilities off by promising them a monopoly, killing competition. Because that initial billion dollars isn't all that's going to be passed along to consumers of electricity. Still, this is the portion of the plan that may sign it's death warrant. No one hates a monopoly more than our liberal friends. After all, big business doesn't get any bigger than when it kills all competition. I suppose we'll see how consistent they really are. The fat cats smoking their stogies in the backrooms at DTE and CE are hoping they'll keep their mouths shut. Now if that wasn't enough, the article didn't end there. It goes on to recap the overall budget battle going on in Lansing these days and mentioned the GOP plan to revoke a scheduled state employee pay increase, saving the state an additional $110 million. That's right, they're still due to receive a pay increase. While folks in the private sector lose their jobs and their elected leaders ask them to open their wallets to pay more Lansing's taking care of their own. According to the FREEP:
Republicans also proposed rescinding a pay increase in state employees' 3-year contract, saving the state $110 million in the next fiscal year.
But the move was largely symbolic. Two-thirds of the House and Senate would have to vote to reduce or reject the wage hike by April 8, and Democrats said they don't support the proposal. Meanwhile, Dillon hits day 78 today as he continues to refuse a vote on Jennifer Granholm's $1.5 billion sales tax hike, the executive order she agreed on with the Senate and the GOP's subsequent budget fix balancing the budget this year without raising taxes. If this is Dillon's plan for showing how decisive a leader he is before his 2010 gubernatorial campaign he's got a lot of work to do.
Dillon supports big business monopolies, killing competition and $1 Billion tax hikes, oh my! | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
Dillon supports big business monopolies, killing competition and $1 Billion tax hikes, oh my! | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
|
|
