Mich. might increase taxes to keep Promise

wow, I really hope they do, otherwise it’s not much of a promise, is it?

The added 4% tax on physicians is yet another measure put in place to drive physicians out of Michigan. When I graduate, there is absolutely no reason I can think of whatsoever to stay in this state and practice. Our taxes are already tremendous, the job market is slim, and now there is an additional tax placed on people like me who work their tails off (paying large sums of money) to graduate medical school. Why on earth would a physician stay in Michigan? There is already a shortage of doctors, and this tax will only make it worse. Congrats, you may have helped salvage portions of the promise scholarship, but you’ve given yet one more reason for doctors to leave and never come back. Good luck finding a doctor in a few years Michigan.

I wish these cowardly legislators would just raise the income tax a tenth of a percent. That’s all it would take. Everyone takes a small hit, and nobody gets singled out.

How about instead of raising taxes on the successful, we cut off the dead weight in Pontiac and Detroit?

At some point, you have to separate the chaff from the wheat. Trying to prop up Detroit is bringing down any kind of recovery we might have.

The public is ignorant of the fact that world class physicians have already left Michigan for greener pastures – check out where Drs Jeff Mast, Keith Mayo, Bert Moed, and Tracy Watson are now practicing. Imposing a 4% tax on physician gross revenue works out as an 8% personal income tax hike for physicians, as most physicians in private practice have a 50% overhead cost. In life, often you do not realize what you have until it is gone.

Lawmakers in the Michigan House,(all Democrats) passed three tax increases Wednesday in an attempt to restore funding to the Michigan Promise Scholarship. Granholm renigged on her February promise to not raise taxes, she lied!

The budget was supposed to be finalized by Oct. 1, but legislators and the governor are engaged in a political battle about partisan issues like how many billions can she squeeze out of a taxpayer who’s broke?

While no one ever likes to raise taxes, if we want Michigan to come out of this and move backward, we have to invest in things,(like a 75 billion dollar building) that can help us do that,” said state Rep. Joan Bauer, D-Lansing

Bills passed in the House by Democrats, include an increase on physician taxes, a hold on increases,(tax increase) to personal income tax exemptions and reductions to Michigan business tax credits,(more taxes on struggling business).

Additional revenue bills to fund the supplemental one could be voted on as soon as Thursday and include a tax increase on tobacco products excluding cigarettes, higher fees for bars serving liquor late into the night and a hold on income tax credits for certain residents, said state Rep. Cindy Denby, R-Handy Township…Are they nuts?

Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, said the Senate is working to erase the deficit, not increase taxes.

“We don’t believe that a tax increase is how you solve the budget,” Marsden said. “This deals with this year’s budget with no new tax increase.”

Chances of these tax increases passing in the Senate are slim, said Sen. Michael Switalski, D-Roseville.

“Just from discussion with my colleagues, it doesn’t have a lot of support in the Republican side,” he said. “But I’m not saying it is impossible.” We all need the Democrats because we all love paying ever higher taxes, right?

I do not like that the med student commented against the tax raise for reinstatment of the michigan promise. as a student with debt he should understand that any money helps a student with their trials of higher education. Without the michigan promise (and the competivie schorlarship) I am going to community college and looking at shoving over almost 3000 dollars for this year. Reinstatment of the promise would drasticly help me out. It is not like the taxes will cause taxpayers to pay thousands of dollars more a year. And to top it off, the educated mass is the mass that will help turn the economy around!

The “tax” on physicians is called the Quality Assurance Assessment Program (QAAP). It has existed in Michigan since 2002 and levied against nursing homes and hospitals. What REALLY happens is as follows:

The revenue collected from QAAP is matched at a certain percentage by the federal government. The Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) are the rates that determine the amount of federal matching funds that the state is eligible to receive. For example, if the state’s FMAP is 50%, for every dollar the state contributes, the federal government would also contribute one dollar. The FMAP changes each fiscal year, and currently the rates are much higher due to the ARRA stimulus package. Fiscal Year 2010 enhanced FMAP rate is estimated to be 73.27%, meaning that for every one dollar Michigan contributes, the federal government contributes almost three dollars. The funds collected under the QAAP, along with the federal matching funds, will be used to increase the Medicaid reimbursement rates for the very physicians who are subject to QAAP. Hence, above a certain income, they will NOT lose money.

The doctors that flee the state because of QAAP are the ones who don’t understand what it is trying to do. Period.

I don’t know why they’d make a “promise” they’re not going to keep. Do they want people depending on that scholarship money to stop going to college & go on welfare instead? That’s what this state needs right?

Jake, you’re a dumb ass.