As expected, Livingston County’s state Legislative delegation is toeing the Republican line on the budgets cuts that will devastate the state, but the comments of Rep. Bill Rogers, R, Brighton, are becoming screechy.
Just minutes after that the House adjoined on Tuesday after a marathon session that lasted until almost 9 p.m. where a modest revenue increase was approved, Rogers’s staffer sent out a press release blasting the increase.
The House approved a physician Quality Assurance Assessment Program (QAAP) that assesses a 3 percent tax on doctors. Revenue collected from doctors would be matched with Federal funds bringing in $2.70 for every $1 the QAAP raises, and those matching funds would be used to increase Medicaid reimbursement to doctors, bringing them up to Medicare standards. The Department of Community Health budget just approved last month cut the reimbursement rate by 8 percent, putting hospitals in danger of going into bankruptcy and causing some doctors to stop treating Medicaid patients.
But Rogers told the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus that the increase is "a stunning breach of the public trust" that would make it harder to live and work in this state. Please.
If you want a stunning breach of public trust, how about telling high school students that if they do well on the MEAP test they will earn the Michigan Promise scholarship, but once they are enrolled in college, we take it away. That is a breach of the public trust.
He then said he was "outraged" by the proposals, which he said were introduced in "the 11th hour under the cover of darkness." He can be outraged all he wants, but the 11th hour charge is what’s really outrageous. The proposal has been around since late July.
According to the article, Rogers and Rep. Cindy Denby, R-Handy Township, both said the proposals broke an agreement between state House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, to balance the budget without raising taxes.
Simply not true. Dillon made the deal without the agreement of this caucus, and they both left out the second half of the agreement: Republicans would support supplemental appropriations bills to restore some of the cuts. Dillon said all along he would look to safeguard K-12 education, college scholarships, local police and fire protection and health care for children and seniors.
2 comments:
Any tax increase is not on the business owner, but on the consumer. Doctors won't pay the 3% tax. They'll collect the 3% tax in the form of higher costs. If this is going to be used to pay for seniors, it's a redistribution.
Redistribution of wealth sure sounds like socialism, so I'm not surprised that the socialist Democrats snuck this in.
Less than 13 months to go to get rid of these socialists. Next November, the election is going to be a bloodbath. I understand why they are trying to get all of these freebies passed. The socialist Democrats will be standing in the unemployment lines.
Two years ago, the socialist Democrats passed the largest tax increase in Michigan history. Since then, the unemployment rate has doubled. What part of increasing taxes stifles economies don't these socialists understand?
First, you don’t know the difference between Medicaid and Medicare. Doctors will get more money back than the 3 percent they pay, so I guess that means they will have to lower the charge to patients.
First, anonymous, there is no such thing as a socialist Democrat in this country, and that is just a fascist Republican talking point.” By your warped mind, any tax must be socialism.
There are no socialists in this country to get rid of, but Democrats will keep control of the U.S. House and Senate next year.
The largest tax increase in history? Nice talking pint, but simply not true. Perhaps you have not heard of the Bush recession that led to two of the state’s largest three employers declaring bankruptcy.
Increasing taxes has as much to do with stifling economies as cutting taxes does in increasing economic activity; nothing.
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