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Gov. Granholm warns schools of cuts without cigarette, liquor tax increases
AP ^ | 6-1-04 | Amy F Bailey

Posted on 06/01/2004 7:03:07 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan

Gov. Granholm warns schools of cuts without cigarette, liquor tax increases

By AMY F. BAILEY
The Associated Press
6/1/2004, 4:36 p.m. ET

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Just days before finishing their academic year, Michigan schools learned Tuesday they may have to scramble to cut their budgets by $28 per student if lawmakers don't agree to increase the state tax on cigarettes and liquor by July 1.

Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm said the higher taxes must be approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature by June 15 if they are to take effect next month. Without them, Granholm said state funding for health care or schools will have to be cut to resolve a $250 million shortfall in the overall spending plan for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

"The clock is ticking," Granholm said during an afternoon news conference with state Budget Director Mary Lannoye.

Lannoye issued a letter Tuesday to K-12 schools warning them their state funding will be reduced by $28 per student if the higher tobacco and liquor taxes aren't approved. The school aid fund for the current budget year is $50 million in the red.

The state also may have to cut reimbursements to hospitals and physicians who take care of low-income Medicaid patients if the tax hikes aren't approved, Granholm said.

Granholm wants to raise the tax on all tobacco products from $1.25 to $2 per pack to generate an additional $97 million for the current fiscal year. She also proposing increasing the price of a $10 bottle of liquor by about 50 cents to bring in $10 million for this budget year.

The tax hikes would stay in effect and raise hundreds of millions more to help fill an estimated $1.3 billion shortfall in next year's budget, which starts Oct. 1.

Michael Flanagan, director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators, said a cut in state funding for schools a few months before their fiscal year ends would be devastating.

Schools already have signed contracts for summer construction work and summer classes, Flanagan said. Although some districts have extra money set aside for emergencies, others don't.

"In some districts there's absolutely no option that they have with this $28 cut," he said. "I don't get why the legislators aren't stepping up to the plate on this. This is a simple solution. It's not rocket science and it gets us through a crisis."

The House voted last week to approve increasing the tax on cigarettes by 75 cents, but its version was significantly different from Granholm's proposal. The House restricted the 75-cent-per-pack increase to cigarettes rather than all tobacco products, put a three-year limit on it and added a two-week grace period before vendors have to transfer the increased tax receipts to the state.

Granholm said the House version is unacceptable, but a spokesman for House Speaker Rick Johnson, R-LeRoy, said there isn't enough support for the governor's original proposal in the GOP-controlled chamber.

"The House Republicans want to be able to balance the budget by cutting spending, not just raising taxes," Johnson spokesman Keith Ledbetter said.

The House voted down the liquor tax hike once this year, and its prospects at this point look uncertain.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Wyoming has said GOP senators won't vote for the higher cigarette tax unless GOP legislation aimed at creating jobs is included in the deal.

Granholm's proposal to increase the cigarette tax won't have the 20 votes needed for approval in the 38-member Senate, where the GOP has a 22-16 majority, because it's not part of a comprehensive budget-balancing plan, Sikkema spokesman Bill Nowling said.

Nowling said Granholm's announcement on Tuesday doesn't change the Senate's position. ___


TOPICS: Business/Economy; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: cigarette; granholm; pufflist; sikkema; taxes; tobacco
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CUTS! CUTS! CUTS! CUTS!

Schools can take it out of their ISD budgets and their vacations. Ask Oakland county about that.

1 posted on 06/01/2004 7:03:07 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
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To: Dan from Michigan

Well she is the best looking of all the Governors...I guess that means something.


2 posted on 06/01/2004 7:09:20 PM PDT by Bob Eimiller (Kerry, Kennedy, Pelosi, Leahy, Kucinich, Durbin Pro Abort Catholics Excommunication?)
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To: Dan from Michigan

"Gov. Granholm warns schools of cuts without cigarette, liquor tax increases"

Man, just think how much the kids will suffer if folks stop drinking and smoking altogether. Keep puffing, for the children!


3 posted on 06/01/2004 7:13:05 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Bob Eimiller

Yeah. It means there aren't any good looking governors....


4 posted on 06/01/2004 7:20:34 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan ("Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America being passive. They were wrong.” - Reagan)
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To: Dan from Michigan

I thought you wrote LSD budgets. Man that's a trip.


5 posted on 06/01/2004 7:24:42 PM PDT by this_ol_patriot
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To: Dan from Michigan
"I don't get why the legislators aren't stepping up to the plate on this. This is a simple solution. It's not rocket science and it gets us through a crisis."

Typical tantrum from a school administrator: we need it, so take it from someone else and give it to us. It's not rocket science, afterall.

6 posted on 06/01/2004 7:29:21 PM PDT by FourPeas (NEA - Nauseating Education Authoritarianism)
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To: Larry Lucido

LOL excellent!

New ad by anti-smoking governments:

Smoke, it's for the kids!

ROFL - stinking hypocrites


7 posted on 06/01/2004 7:38:36 PM PDT by Southern62
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To: Southern62

Take that one step further. All the kiddies should smoke in order to support there education. Just Crazy!


8 posted on 06/01/2004 7:42:05 PM PDT by Revel
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To: Dan from Michigan

If you got em.....smoke em....It's for the children.


9 posted on 06/01/2004 7:42:13 PM PDT by stocksthatgoup (Polls - Proof that when the Main Stream Media wants your opinion, they will give it to you)
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To: Larry Lucido
Man, just think how much the kids will suffer if folks stop drinking and smoking altogether. Keep puffing, for the children!

I really want our son to attend a good college, too. So honey, could you get me another martini. Shaken, not stirred.
10 posted on 06/01/2004 7:44:05 PM PDT by zencat (Visit my profile for MAGNETIC Bush/Cheney '04 bumper stickers!)
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To: Dan from Michigan

Get Engler back. Wasn't he term limited out? Too bad although the idea of term limits is still a good one.


11 posted on 06/01/2004 7:45:32 PM PDT by joonbug
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To: Dan from Michigan
Yeah. It means there aren't any good looking governors....

I don't know about that, Arnold's kind of cute. Don't get me wrong, I'm not gay or anything.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.


12 posted on 06/01/2004 7:46:04 PM PDT by socal_parrot
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To: Dan from Michigan

Yawn. Typical RAT tactic. When the RATS can't get the tax increases they want, they spread rumors about government education suffering. The problem is, the people fall for the con everytime.


13 posted on 06/01/2004 7:48:27 PM PDT by Kuksool (Get your souls to the polls in November)
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To: Dan from Michigan; Gabz; SheLion

Smokers are needed to pay for schooling and also to help pay medical bills for low income folks and they keep saying we all should quit smoking.Does that make sense!

Sometimes I think they are all insane----they go up on the taxes and smokers go elsewhere;they go up more on the taxes and more smokers go elsewhere.

What hypocritical fools they all are?


14 posted on 06/01/2004 7:49:22 PM PDT by Mears
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To: Dan from Michigan

"Born in Canada, Raised in California, Educated in Massachusetts"

What else needs to be said?

Additional taxes on alchol and cigaretts do make one type of sense though: High schoolers will be paying for their own educations.


15 posted on 06/01/2004 7:55:49 PM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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To: joonbug
Engler was term limited out.
16 posted on 06/01/2004 8:07:54 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan ("Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America being passive. They were wrong.” - Reagan)
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To: Mears; *puff_list; Just another Joe; Great Dane; Madame Dufarge; Gabz; MeeknMing; steve50; ...
Smokers are needed to pay for schooling and also to help pay medical bills for low income folks and they keep saying we all should quit smoking.Does that make sense!

This is a bunch of BS! This is one reason I started rolling my own! Just so I didn't have to pay into the state coffers anymore.

I got sick and tired of the smokers in Maine carrying the damn budgets on our backs! Let someone else carry the load!

(Thanks for the ping, Mears!)

17 posted on 06/01/2004 8:19:07 PM PDT by SheLion (Please register to vote! We can't afford to be silent.)
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To: Bob Eimiller
Well she is the best looking of all the Governors...I guess that means something.

She doesn't do anything for ME! heh!

18 posted on 06/01/2004 8:20:10 PM PDT by SheLion (Please register to vote! We can't afford to be silent.)
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To: Mears
>
19 posted on 06/01/2004 8:20:53 PM PDT by SheLion (Please register to vote! We can't afford to be silent.)
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To: SheLion

You're a Republican..!! The appeal would be far beyond Granholm! LOL


20 posted on 06/01/2004 9:14:00 PM PDT by Bob Eimiller (Kerry, Kennedy, Pelosi, Leahy, Kucinich, Durbin Pro Abort Catholics Excommunication?)
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