Grand Rapids Pundit’s Michigan Economy Tracker index has been updated. The state’s sales tax revenue level dropped 0.4% from July of last year. This is particularly bad, because the Michigan Economy Tracker tells us year over year growth. The problem is that July 2009 was the bottom of 2009′s sales tax revenue decline. Although...
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The perpetually positive Realtors of the world are essentially always saying that it’s a good time to buy. The government made it a matter of national policy, through the wasteful “home buyer’s tax credit,” to get more people to buy houses. But is it really a good time to buy? One thing that I...
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Just as we were warned by Grand Rapids’ police chief before this year’s income tax hike that a failure of the tax increase would result in ‘increased risk’ for city residents, the Police union in Bay, Michigan is actually threatening residents that they will be “beaten, shot, stabbed robbed” if the city doesn’t...
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I found an interesting chart, courtesy of city-data.com, showing the median home price in Grand Rapids, as well as the number of homes sold on a quarterly basis. Clearly things are bad and getting worse. Median home prices have dropped almost in half since 2004. Incredible! Oh, and remember our post about how the...
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Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them. -Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833 If ye...
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The latest House Fiscal Agency revenue consensus report paints a grim picture for Michigan. Here are a few important bits of information: Although the US has gained more than 480,000 jobs over , employment in Michigan fell by more than 78,000 jobs. That’s right – Michigan has had a net loss of...
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Mi Biz has an interesting article on the development of Grand Rapids’ downtown and what needs to be done to attract more people. A study was paid for by the state and the GR Downtown Development Authority to figure out how to get more people to come downtown. I believe it cost over $100k...
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A new report released by the National Conference of State Legislatures shows that Michigan is one of only three states where government revenues are still below those projected. The other two states and New Jersey and Tennessee. Interestingly, some states are showing an astonishing level of income tax revenue growth over projection. Examples are...
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Yesterday the state Senate revoked its approval of a compact with the Gun Lake tribe, effectively ending any chance that an Indian casino will be build (with the state’s consent), in the Dorr area. Senate Majority leader Ken Sikkema was interviewed on WOOD radio this morning and he explained that he voted to rescind...
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As our readers will know, we’ve pointed out some pretty ridiculous ways that the city of Grand Rapids spends its money. Now, last week the city manager, Kurt Kimball, went to the City Commission to say that the city needs to restructure the way it spends money. He says that by 2010 the city...
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