Schools Collect $6.1 Billion Federal COVID Bucks, Teachers Union Calls State Tax Cut Irresponsible

Michigan’s largest teachers union has called a state income tax cut worth $2.5 billion annually and passed by the Legislature last week an election-year stunt. The bill would cut the tax rate from 4.25% to 3.9%, and is said to honor a promise made by lawmakers when they imposed the increase in 2007.

The Michigan Education Association stated in a March 7 story published on its website, “This irresponsible, unsustainable tax giveaway will cause shortfalls for education funding at a time when students and schools can least afford it.”

Public schools in Michigan are collecting an additional $6.1 billion in funding from federal COVID-19 relief.

As Michigan Capitol Confidential has reported: “The income tax was increased in 2007 from 3.9% to 4.35%, an 11.5% increase, to avoid a government shutdown and spending cuts. It was supposed to roll back to 3.9% starting in 2011, but Gov. Rick Snyder and the Legislature agreed to limit the roll-back to a mere one-tenth of one percentage point.”