Pontiac Times

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has criticized Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's proposed government expansion plans, outlined in her State of the State address, which was delivered on Jan. 27.

The Mackinac Center, a nonprofit research and educational organization whose mission is to support a free market and limit government overreach, noted nine government expansions with no limitations in Whitmer's speech. She also spent a great deal of time speaking about the challenges brought on by the global pandemic.

These expansions included initiating regulation changes suggested by the prescription drug task force, prolonging unemployment benefits on a permanent basis, giving small businesses extra resources, passing the state's plan to recover from the pandemic and increasing pay for home health care workers by $2 an hour.

She also suggested new methods for local governments to pay for roads through taxes, spending more money on Michigan's water infrastructure, renewing the "Good Jobs for Michigan" program and providing financial support for academic expenses, such as recovering from the pandemic, infrastructure and student assistance. 

Michael LaFaive, the Mackinac Center's senior director of fiscal policy, doesn't believe some of these proposals, including the Good Jobs incentive program, will improve the state's economy or public health.

"The government is throttling small businesses across the state," LaFaive said on the Mackinac Center's website. "Asking them to pay more, especially right now, so that a few large corporations can pay less, is regrettable. Good Jobs for Michigan and other taxpayer subsidies are expensive, unfair and ineffective."

The Mackinac Center did acknowledge Whitmer's mention of several bipartisan accomplishments supported by the Center, which limit the government's reach, including changes to automobile insurance and Clean Slate Legislation.

Statistics from the Mackinac Center show that Whitmer has proposed three more government expansions in 2021 than the year prior.  The highest number of expansions in the last five decades came from former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm in 2008 when she proposed two dozen.