Posted on 03/12/2009 11:32:18 AM PDT by mombyprofession
by Peter Luke | Lansing Bureau Wednesday March 11, 2009, 6:54 PM
LANSING -- Michigan residents bought fewer Michigan lottery tickets, cigarettes, clothes, restaurant meals and household goods, as they saw the stock market plummet and the economic outlook darken.
The sharp pullback in consumer spending sent sales tax receipts downward 18 percent in February, or more than $100 million. It will force Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers to cut the budget more, agree on tax increases or use more of the federal economic stimulus money to balance the state's books.
It was the steepest monthly decline in 25 years.
Overall revenue declines total $200 million from forecasts made just seven weeks ago.
Since income tax receipts from paycheck withholding were pretty flat in February, economists say concerned consumers may be putting away their credit cards and spending less.
"The big reason revenues are tanking is that consumers are negative and they're saving their money," Senate Fiscal Agency economist David Zin said Wednesday. "We thought consumers would ratchet up the savings and they've done so even more than we thought."
Also down were tax receipts on specific forms of discretionary spending, according to the agency's new revenue report. Tobacco tax receipts were down 6.7 percent and casino wagering taxes were down 7 percent. Michigan Lottery ticket sales dropped nearly 19 percent. One factor that explains some of the decline from a year ago was that February 2008 provided a 29th day of sales.
Tax collections from the sale of real estate are down 42 percent from a year ago. While the focus of the state's economic woe is the auto sector, sales tax receipts from car sales actually climbed 15 percent last month.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...
Buy Nothing Until This Guy’s Gone
Here’s hoping NY is next.
Stopped buying lottery tickets a long time ago, hitting the casino is a rarity and we buy smokes on the reservation for 9.50 a carton.
NY isn’t getting an extra dime in taxes out of us if we can help it.
Ping.
Somehow, I know which of the three choices will be taken.....
I’d hate to see the hood that’s in it!...........................
Tobacco revenues being down does not indicate less people are smoking. Many may have cut down but they are still smoking. The high tobacco taxes also have created a huge black market. Most of the loss is with the big cigarette makers which all states are all in partnership through the Master Settlement Agreement. The MSM funds are now down in the tens of millions a year in states similar in size as Michigan. Most of this nonsense comes out of the “political correctness” class. Tax the hell out of “political correctness”. The PC crowd are all for taxing and spending other peoples money. If they were given a choice to belly up to the bar and pay, or go away, they would go away!
Move to Florida! You can get cancer much cheaper here!..................
Amen to that!! .6166 federal and .35 state here in KY. I quit. I’m suffering, but I quit.
Well, there are fewer Michigan residents, right?
Are they the dumbest? That would be an interesting poll - MI, MA, IL, or CA.
Not that I'd advocate a sneaky, underhanded tax avoidance such as that. And certainly never practiced it, particularly in college when I was travelling from North Carolina to points North and East.
How can you afford that?
She’s clearly an idiot.
One thing Michigan could do is eliminate early retirement for teachers. My college room-mate, who is now 63 years old, has been retired since she was 47! Ever since, she’s been living in Arizona, drawing a nice pension and full health benefits from the State of Michigan. Why do teachers get to retire early? They already have summers off, two weeks at Christmas, a week in the Spring, and various other days throughout the academic year — and their work day usually ends by 3:00 p.m. Then they retire by the age of 50 and the poor suckers still working in the State of Michigan take care of them for the rest of their lives. There’s something seriously wrong here. Ditto with early retirement for auto workers — that’s what helped kill the auto industry.
So naturally the taxes they increase will be the sin taxes to make up for the shortfall in ... sin taxes. Am I getting this right?
Michigan is losing residents in droves. School enrollment is back to 80’s levels. Housing is flaaaaat. Automotive and their suppliers are withering. Unemployment is skyrocketing. I-75 corridor cities are falling apart. They got everything their lefties wanted. In spades.
Look at Detroit, use to have what 1.5 million people and now it`s about 800,000 residents.
What a s**t-h**e of a State.
Hey no one calls my home state that except those of us from Michigan...nevermind the fact that you are right on all counts!!
If I have $20 to spend, should I use it on food, smokes, or a lottery ticket?
You left out “rock of crack”
TF Funny.
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