Conservative editorial wants to turn the clock back even farther to 1930

It wasn’t much of a surprise, but the Detroit News came out against the Governor’s 2-cent plan on services to balance the budget and save essential services.

It amazes me how right wing their OP-ED page and editorial board is. This is a newspaper located in one of the most liberal cites in America and the biggest newspaper in a blue state. Have they ever endorsed a Democrat or a Democratic position?

There reason for rejecting the levy seems to me to be the very reasons for approving it. The OP-ED says the sales tax is limited in the state Constitution, and the Governor’s plan is and end around the Constitution.

But they never envisioned a sales tax on services. The state Constitution discusses a limit on the sales tax rate on "tangible personal property." It says nothing about a sales tax on services because no one in 1962 or 1963, when the Constitution was debated and adopted, thought of such a tax.
And there is Granholm's opening. She can propose a 2 percent sales tax on services without the necessity of a public vote to change the Constitution. But the possibilities are limitless. After all, the current sales tax rate began in the early 1930s with a 3 percent rate. It has since been doubled to 6 percent -- even given the difficulties inherent in getting voter approval to amend the Constitution.

Exactly. No one envisioned in 1930 or 1962 that our economy would change from a primarily manufacturing-based one to a service-bases economy. It makes no sense for one segment of the economy to pay its fair share, but another segment dos not pay its fair share.

They also failed to mention why the sales tax went from 4-cents to 6-cents. It was because of Proposal A that went away from local property taxes to fund schools to the state sales tax. How convenient.

Republican lawmakers, who still control the Senate, should reject this tax ploy. At the very least, they should demand a statewide vote on it.

Forget the cost of an election. The Detroit News and the Senate Republics then need to tell Michigan residents what they plan on cutting because there is no way a statewide vote can be held in time to balance the current budget.

Why elect leaders if we do not allow them to make decisions? Just think of the money we can save if we don’t have a governor or a Legislature. We can just govern by the ballot box.