Stop Corporate Welfare
End Taxpayer Handouts to Private Business
Over the past two years alone, Michigan has showered private companies with over $4.4 Billion in taxpayer-backed handouts. The money keeps flowing despite scandals and controversy, including one politically connected recipient spending $4,500 on a coffee maker and hundreds of millions going to the notorious Gotion plant.
Lawmakers attempt to justify this spending with claims of massive job creation, but those jobs rarely materialize and never pay Michiganders what they say. A Mackinac Center analysis found that of 434 projects from 2005 to 2011 from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, only 2.3% met or exceeded their jobs goals. Further, a recent analysis by Bridge Michigan found than $1 billion spent on subsidizing electric vehicle and battery plants produced a mere 200 jobs.
The famed economist Thomas Sowell once said, "There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs." And with billions spent, the trade-offs are tremendous. While Michigan spends this money, they have rejected to enforce a permanent income tax cut already in law. With the amount they've spent since 2023, every household in the state could have received a $1,100 tax cut.
Now, Lansing is debating a $600 million package that includes more corporate welfare, as well as wasteful spending on pet projects for public transit and housing. Tell them to vote NO!