This report from the State of Michigan is intended to provide all citizens with an assessment of the financial health of Michigan’s state and local governments. For every $7 earned in Michigan, $1 is sent to state and local government in the form of taxes, fees, and charges for services. This report provides information on:
- How taxes and fees are collected and used across our state;
- The long-term consequences of today’s budget decisions—borrowing, debt levels, budget reserves; and
- The bills that are mounting for the future, such as public employee pensions and federal
For this report, we have used the most recent information available. In most cases, this is for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2010. What does this report show? Largely, we find the following:
- Michigan residents are earning less than a decade Lower incomes mean less tax revenue and an increased need for government services. The result has been an ongoing structural imbalance in the state’s finances;
- Many governments in Michigan are spending more than they are taking To support their spending, they have drained their savings, borrowed money, and failed to put money away for liabilities they know are on the horizon.
- Michigan has been unable to invest in its State government expenditures on infrastructure and higher educa- tion, among other areas, have declined over the past decade;
- State employee compensation in Michigan has grown while private sector compensation has fallen, inhibiting taxpay- ers’ ability to support the salaries and benefits of public employees, or to meet critical investment needs and assist Michigan citizens in financial The state’s future has been mortgaged through extensive borrowing and accu- mulation of unfunded pension and retiree health care liabilities;
- Years of high unemployment have rendered our unemployment compensation fund insolvent and created a greater demand for government Our system simply wasn’t built for this sustained level of hardship.