LANSING (WWJ) – Times are tight for Michiganders. With the ongoing struggles of inflation, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in Wednesday’s State of the State address laid out a plan to help people across the state make ends meet.
The governor’s “Lowering MI Costs” plan has three parts to offer “immediate relief” – rolling back the retirement tax, expanding the Working Families Tax Credit and pre-K for all.
She says the plan focuses on three main groups of people – “folks working hard to care for themselves and support their families,” young people about to graduate and Michiganders being born today.
“With inflation, every dollar saved makes a difference,” Whitmer said in Wednesday’s address, the first of her second term and her first at the Capitol in three years. “That’s why we’re moving fast. Parts of the plan have already been introduced.”
Whitmer said repealing the retirement tax would especially make a “huge difference” for the state’s seniors, ultimately saving half a million households an average of $1,000 a year.
“That’s money for prescriptions and groceries and gas, or gifts for your grandkids. I fought this tax as a legislator and as governor because I know it hurts people.”
The second facet of “Lowering MI Costs” focuses on the Working Families Tax Credit, formerly known as the EITC. Whitmer says boosting the bipartisan tax break at the federal and state level delivers an average refund of at least $3,000 to 700,000 families.
“As we work together to build a brighter future, we need to lower costs and support every kind of family: those who have kids and those who do not,” she said, noting it impacts nearly a million children across the state.
“It will put hundreds of millions back in family budgets to help with rent, school supplies, and food on the table,” she said.
Together, those two tax changes will “right a wrong inflicted on Michiganders 12 years ago.”
“In 2011, seniors and hardworking families had the rug ripped out from under them when the retirement tax was enacted and the Working Families Tax Credit was gutted. It was wrong. Now, we can make it right,” she said.
Lastly, the plan to bring pre-K for all would save families $10,000 a year compared to their current pre-K or childcare, according to Whitmer.
“Every parent knows an early start is critical to their child’s future,” she said.
Whitmer vowed to make it so every 4-year-old in Michigan can access a free, public preschool education by the end of her second term.
Whitmer also hit on how to keep and attract young talented people for the state’s workforce, transportation, public safety and more.
Stay tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for continuing coverage of Whitmer’s State of the State address. >>> LISTEN LIVE!
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