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NEW TV AD: Snyder Put Big Business Ahead of Michigan's Seniors

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The Democratic Governors Association today released a new television ad in the Michigan governor’s race highlighting how Governor Rick Snyder increased taxes on retirement and raised property taxes for seniors citizens, all to pay for tax cuts for businesses, even if they shipped jobs overseas.  The spot, “Seniors,” features Scio Township’s Rocky Gonet, who correctly notes that Snyder “gave his business friends a nice tax break, and he gave all us retirees a nice tax hike.”
“Governor Snyder raised taxes on Michigan’s seniors to give tax cuts to the wealthy and buisnesses  even if they shipped jobs overseas,” said DGA Communications Director Danny Kanner.  “Mark Schauer will reverse the Snyder retirement tax, restore Snyder’s devastating education cuts, and finally build a Michigan economy that works for the middle class, not just those at the very top.”
Watch the ad here: http://youtu.be/8cVVtRuOB6A
“Seniors” is the sixth television ad that the DGA has run in Michigan.
AD BACKUP:

AUDIO AND VIDEO BACKUP
Video: Real interview with Rocky Gonet, retiree from Scio Township. Alternate between interview shots in kitchen and b-roll in garage and on lawn mower. Name appears on screen. Shot
 
Audio: [Rocky Gonet]
 
“My name is Rocky Gonet.  I’ve been retired about three years.
 
 I thought my retirement was safe.
 		  
 
Text on Screen:
Rick Snyder
Started Taxing Retirement
Raised Property Taxes on Seniors
 
Audio: Governor Snyder decided that he was going to tax my pension.
 
He also raised property taxes on senior citizens.
 
Now I gotta scramble to make ends meet.
 		 Rocky is 66 and joint files with his wife, who is still working. He pays the pension tax on 7k of his pension that is no longer deductible. [Michigan.gov, Income Tax for Retirement Benefits, Tax Year 2013]
 
Snyder Taxed Retirement Income. “Gov. Rick Snyder signed the biggest tax overhaul in Michigan in 17 years that finances the elimination of the Michigan business tax with a bundle of changes to the personal income tax. Overall, it amounts to a $220 million net cut in tax revenues to state coffers, but for Michigan businesses, including some 100,000 that no longer will have to pay the repealed Michigan Business Tax, it’s a $1.65 billion cut. The difference is being made up with $1.42 billion in additional income taxes, which includes applying the tax to pensions and other retirement income.” [Bridge Magazine, 5/25/11]
 
Loss of Homestead Credit Would Lead to Hire Taxes for Seniors. “The loss of the homestead credit for an estimated quarter-million households means a net tax increase even for senior couples unaffected by application of the income tax to pensions. A couple in which the older partner was born in the years 1946 to 1952 (assumed to be age 66 in the example), and who receives $30,000 in pension income and $22,000 in Social Security would remain tax-free. With the loss of $430 in homestead credits, they would still see a loss in income.” [Grand Rapid Press, 7/13/11]
 
“No foul on billboards chiding Gov. Snyder for higher taxes.” “Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer, a former congressman, has made attacks on Snyder’s tax record a centerpiece of his campaign. In 2011, Snyder pushed through sweeping changes to Michigan’s business tax system, scrapping the Michigan Business Tax and replacing it with a 6 percent corporate income tax. It was calculated to be a $1.7 billion business tax cut in 2012-2013 in analysis by the nonpartisan Michigan House Fiscal Agency. To replace much of that revenue, Snyder backed legislation that raised taxes on individualsby about $1.4 billion. Its chief components and their calculated impact in 2012-2013:
 
·       Freeze the state income tax at 4.25 percent. It had been scheduled to fall to 3.9 percent by 2015. That was calculated by the House Fiscal Agency to raise $223 million in taxes in 2012-2013.
 
·       Lower deductions for pensions for those born 1946 or after, adding an estimated $343 million in taxes.
 
·       Reduce low-income tax credits from 20 percent to 6 percent, adding $261 million in taxes.
 
·       Lower homestead property tax credits, raising taxes by $270 million. [Bridge Magazine, 5/15/14]
 
 
Audio:I’ll be honest with ya, I’m scared. I don’t know what the future’s gonna hold.
 
 
 
 
 		  
 
 
Audio: He gave his business friends a nice tax break and he gave all us retirees a nice tax hike.
 
 
 		 Gave Huge Tax Breaks to Businesses. “Gov. Rick Snyder signed the biggest tax overhaul in Michigan in 17 years that finances the elimination of the Michigan business tax with a bundle of changes to the personal income tax. Overall, it amounts to a $220 million net cut in tax revenues to state coffers, but for Michigan businesses, including some 100,000 that no longer will have to pay the repealed Michigan Business Tax, it’s a $1.65 billion cut. The difference is being made up with $1.42 billion in additional income taxes, which includes applying the tax to pensions and other retirement income.” [Bridge Magazine, 5/25/11]
 
Rocky is 66 and joint files with his wife, who is still working. He pays the pension tax on 7k of his pension that is no longer deductible. [Michigan.gov, Income Tax for Retirement Benefits, Tax Year 2013]
 
Snyder Taxed Retirement Income. “Gov. Rick Snyder signed the biggest tax overhaul in Michigan in 17 years that finances the elimination of the Michigan business tax with a bundle of changes to the personal income tax.
Overall, it amounts to a $220 million net cut in tax revenues to state coffers, but for Michigan businesses, including some 100,000 that no longer will have to pay the repealed Michigan Business Tax, it’s a $1.65 billion cut. The difference is being made up with $1.42 billion in additional income taxes, which includes applying the tax to pensions and other retirement income.” [Bridge Magazine, 5/25/11]
 
Loss of Homestead Credit Would Lead to Hire Taxes for Seniors. “The loss of the homestead credit for an estimated quarter-million households means a net tax increase even for senior couples unaffected by application of the income tax to pensions. A couple in which the older partner was born in the years 1946 to 1952 (assumed to be age 66 in the example), and who receives $30,000 in pension income and $22,000 in Social Security would remain tax-free. With the loss of $430 in homestead credits, they would still see a loss in income.” [Grand Rapid Press, 7/13/11]
 
“No foul on billboards chiding Gov. Snyder for higher taxes.” “Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer, a former congressman, has made attacks on Snyder’s tax record a centerpiece of his campaign. In 2011, Snyder pushed through sweeping changes to Michigan’s business tax system, scrapping the Michigan Business Tax and replacing it with a 6 percent corporate income tax. It was calculated to be a $1.7 billion business tax cut in 2012-2013 in analysis by the nonpartisan Michigan House Fiscal Agency. To replace much of that revenue, Snyder backed legislation that raised taxes on individualsby about $1.4 billion. Its chief components and their calculated impact in 2012-2013:
 

  • Freeze the state income tax at 4.25 percent. It had been scheduled to fall to 3.9 percent by 2015. That was calculated by the House Fiscal Agency to raise $223 million in taxes in 2012-2013.

 
·       Lower deductions for pensions for those born 1946 or after, adding an estimated $343 million in taxes.
 
·       Reduce low-income tax credits from 20 percent to 6 percent, adding $261 million in taxes.
 
·       Lower homestead property tax credits, raising taxes by $270 million. [Bridge Magazine, 5/15/14]
 
House Fiscal Agency: Tax Increases on Seniors.
*Snyder eliminated the special $2,300 exemption (indexed to inflation) for seniors (age 65 and over) — Page 2
*Snyder ended the exemption on pensions — Page 4
*Snyder cut the Homestead property tax exemption — Page 5
http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa/PDF/Alpha/TaxpayerExampleMemo.pdf
 
Michigan AARP comes out strong against Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposals cutting seniors’ retirement income [MLive, 2/17/11]
Snyder’s plan doesn’t tax Social Security, but it does wipe out current exemptions on some $22 billion in retirement income from pensions and investments. It changes the Homestead Property Tax Credit so that seniors who now get a 100 percent credit on the amount of their property tax bill that exceeds 3.5 percent of their income, they’ll get 80 percent. . . . The $2,300 additional exemption that seniors can claim on their income tax bill would be gone as well.
http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/02/michigan_aarp_comes_out_strong.html
 
Snyder tax plan would be costly for thousands of Michigan residents, including many seniors [Ann Arbor News, 2/27/11]
A senior couple with $77,500 in overall retirement income, $48,000 in pension, $2,500 in other income, and $27,000 in Social Security benefits — that would remain untaxed — would pay $1,840 in new income tax, according to examples crafted by the Michigan Department of Treasury. That couple would also lose about $720 in refundable homestead property tax credits because Snyder’s plan ends eligibility for the credit at $70,000 in household income, down from the $82,650 current cutoff. It adds up to nearly $2,600 in new tax liability.
http://www.annarbor.com/news/snyder-tax-plan-would-be-costly-for-thousands-of-michigan-residents-including-many-seniors/
 
50-something Michigan pensioners take biggest hit under new tax plan [MLive, 7/12/11]
Taking the biggest shot? A retired couple born after 1952 with more than $50,000 in income, including $48,000 in pension benefits, who now receive the full $1,200 refundable homestead property tax credit. Their taxes will be $3,130 higher in 2013 than they would have been had the tax law not been changed, according to the new analysis by the House Fiscal Agency. They’ll be paying the income tax on their all their pension income at a 4.25 percent rate and because the income threshold for the homestead credit declines from $82,650 to $50,000, they lose the whole thing.
http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/07/fifty-something_michigan_pensi.html
 
 
 
Text on Screen: Rick Snyder’s Economy
Is Not Working
 
Disclaimer
 
Audio: He’s taking care of somebody but he ain’t taking care of me.”