Honigman Capitol Report
| Retirement Tax Reform | |
| Whitmer is proposing a rollback of the retirement tax. The rollback would apply to retirement income, including pensions, 401(k) accounts and IRAs purportedly saving half a million households $1,000 per year. The proposal exempts public pensions and restores deductions for private retirement income, including private-sector pensions, withdrawals from IRAs and the employer matched portion of 401(k) accounts. | |
| Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) | |
| Whitmer next proposed increasing the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The Governor suggested that restoring the EITC will lift more than 22,000 people out of working poverty and provide an average refund of $3,000 to 730,000 families. | |
| Electric Vehicles | |
| Following on General Motors’ $7 billion investment, Whitmer is proposing a combined $2,500 rebate for the purchase of an electric vehicle and charging equipment. When combined with the federal credit, a Michigan family could receive up to $10,000 off the purchase of a new electric vehicle and charging station. The state level rebate includes $2,000 for the electric vehicle and $500 for an at home charging station. | |
| Republican Response | |
| Unlike previous years, there was no singular Republican chosen to offer an official response to the speech, resulting in a variety of reactions throughout the day. Earlier in the afternoon, Republicans in the Senate passed from committee their version of a tax relief plan that would reduce the individual income tax rate from 4.25% down to 3.9%, and reduce the corporate income tax rate from 6.0% down to 3.9%. Shortly after the Governor’s speech, a few candidates competing for the GOP gubernatorial nomination issued formal responses criticizing Whitmer’s record and priorities. Several Republican legislators individually criticized the Governor on the state’s COVID response, unemployment rates, and nursing home deaths. However, overall, these were in contrast to a Whitmer speech that was optimistic and neutral, with multiple calls for further bipartisanship moving forward. | |
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