© 2024 MICHIGAN PUBLIC
91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Stateside: Fiscal cliff compromise will impact Michigan's businesses

Steve Carmody/Michigan Radio

Congress passed a bill Tuesday that would prevent the U.S. from falling over the 'fiscal cliff.'

Addressing the bill’s impact on Michigan were Daniel Howes of the Detroit News and Jack Lessenberry of Michigan Radio.

“The Michigan Republicans in the delegation were clearly split on this… a lot of them didn’t like it. The Bush tax cuts the Democrats spent the last ten years railing against were essentially made permanent for 98% of the tax payers,” said Howes.

According to Howes, much of the state's workers will witness increased taxes this year.

“About 77% of people who work are going to be paying higher taxes,” said Howes.

“Everybody seems to object to paying for things they get… most of the tax increases are restoring the Social Security payroll tax to what it used to be,” said Lessenberry.

According to Howes, the frustration many have with taxes is a result of past conditioning.

“The American voter has been conditioned by at least 25 years of politicians telling them they can get something for nothing. The fact of the matter is that all of us are paying into Social Security, and we’re not paying for ourselves, we’re paying for current recipients,” said Howes.

“There’s no question that 2013 is going to be a lot more expensive to run a business,” he continued.

Howes also claimed that President Obama will negotiate over the debt ceiling and it will be a fraught period of time.

“We need to get into a cycle where we don’t keep doing this every three months,” said Lessenberry.

There are two ways you can podcast "Stateside with Cynthia Canty"

Related Content