Michiganders react to 2022 State of State address

(The Center Square) – In her State of the State address, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pitched a range of tax cuts, electric vehicle and insulin subsidies, and investments in mental health services.

Whitmer suggested repealing the retirement tax for seniors and increasing the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit – a tax break for families offered at the federal and state level that Whitmer claimed would help more than 730,000 families.

House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Clare, said Whitmer’s speech offered few solutions for the state’s most “pressing” issues, including government ethics, healthcare reform, and economic development, while many Michiganders are struggling.

“Rising inflation, prescription drug costs, and small businesses still trying to get back to full strength – these are all very real problems working families in Michigan face every day,” Wentworth said in a statement. “The people we represent need real solutions and leaders who can deliver results. But instead of offering any new ideas or policies, Gov. Whitmer spent what may be her final State of the State address talking about things other people have already done to help, including the House plan to cap insulin costs that we passed last year, the Republican small business support plan she vetoed twice before signing last year, and the Republican plan to increase access to childcare options that passed last year.”

Sen. Curtis Hertel, Jr., D-East Lansing, applauded Whitmer’s speech.

“I look forward to working with Governor Whitmer on our shared priorities of investing in Michigan families,” Hertel said in a statement. “The governor laid out a vision of opportunity and I hope the legislature will put partisan politics aside to act quickly for the benefit of Michiganders.”

The Michigan Freedom Fund’s Tori Sachs said Whitmer’s speech “presented a completely different reality” than the past two years.

“The Whitmer administration has delivered a steady string of failures for the people of Michigan, from the underreporting of nursing home deaths, to rampant fraud and waste at Whitmer’s unemployment agency, and a deliberate effort to cover up the truth with taxpayer-funded hush money payouts,” Sachs said in a statement. “After promising to make clean water a priority, the Whitmer administration ignored the Benton Harbor lead water crisis for more than two years.”

Rep. David Martin, R-Davidson, welcomed the idea of repealing the retirement tax.

“Seniors throughout Genesee County worked hard to earn their pensions and they planned their retirements with the expectation that their pension income would not be taxed – because it never was, up until the government changed the rules in 2011,” Martin said in a statement. “Living on a fixed income is hard, especially with the cost of groceries, gas and other everyday living expenses going through the roof. Repealing the pension tax would give seniors some much needed, and well deserved, relief.”

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, agreed that Michigan should spend its billions on “transformational” spending, including critical infrastructure, mental health, and more.

Jimmy Greene, Association of Builders and Contractors of Greater Michigan Chapter president and CEO, said the speech “demonstrated” why Republicans must maintain House and Senate control.

Whitmer touted reinstating the prevailing wage, which requires higher wages to fulfill state contracts. In a Facebook post, Greene said the prevailing wage “unnecessarily” raised construction costs passed onto consumers and companies, contributing to inflation.

“But the Governor has made clear over her many years in elected office that contrary to her olive branch last night that she would much rather fight with the 75% of the construction industry and their massive employee base and not fight for us,” Greene wrote. “She may have been referring to another industry. It’s an election year and while the Governor did indeed extend that olive branch in her speech; there were no olives on ours.”

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