With just days to go before majority undecided Michigan voters select a gubernatorial Republican from the crowded field, out-of-touch millionaire Kevin Rinke is finally answering questions about a central pillar of his wrong-for-Michigan agenda – a disastrous plan to slash nearly $12 billion from the state budget.
Rinke previously had never explained how any of these “dramatic” revenue losses would be recovered and recently “refused to name a single thing he’d cut from the state budget.”
When again asked how he plans to offset the major cuts his “piss-poor public policy proposal” would force on law enforcement, community safety, public education, infrastructure, and other critical services, the used Toyota dealer finally told Gongwer the truth: he doesn’t.
“Mr. Rinke [appeared to move] away from enacting an actual source of some replacement revenue for the $11.2 billion the income tax provides to the state, $7.29 billion to the General Fund and $3.25 billion to the School Aid Fund for the current fiscal year.”
Rinke – who Gongwer previously reported hasn’t actually “weighed the potential damaging effects of such a plan if enacted” – then attempted to pass off Michigan’s sales tax as a viable backfill for his budget proposal, a revenue stream that would annually barely even register.
“Even if Michiganders spent all $11.2 billion on goods subject to the 6 percent sales tax, that would generate $672.2 million to fill a yawning hole.”
As a reminder Rinke’s plan would force the following dramatic changes to Michigan’s budget:
- Cut nearly $8 billion from the general fund, threatening funding for thousands of Michigan State Police and slashing nearly two-thirds from the main funding stream for the Departments of Health and Human Services, Corrections, and State Police, on top of half of all revenue for other critical departments .
- Slash $3.5 billion from the School Aid Fund, the state’s main funding source for public schools in line with their similarly disastrous agenda to convert Michigan to a school voucher system that would have reduced state investment in education by upwards of $500 million annually.
- Eliminate $600 million in transportation funding and threaten additional federal funds secured with matching state dollars, which would undercut the state’s ability to keep making crucial repairs to roads and bridges.
MDP spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite issued the following statement:
“Days ahead of the Republican gubernatorial primary, Kevin Rinke is finally admitting what his prolific question-dodging on this issue has suggested all along. He has no plan to address or replace the billions of dollars he wants to cut from law enforcement, public education, infrastructure, and virtually every other critical service that allows working families to thrive in Michigan. His disastrous budget plan would assuredly drag Michigan backwards – by design.”
