Tag Archives: local income tax

City Manager Ralph Lange indicates that Ypsilanti is moving toward a hybrid police/fire scheme in which public safety officers will be expected to fight fires, save lives, pursue suspects and dispense lethal force

By Mark | March 11, 2013

It would seem that Ralph Lange, our new city manager, has made up his mind that we should merge Ypsilanti’s Police and Fire departments in hopes of further delaying landfall of the category-five fiscal storm gathering on the horizon. He’s admittedly in a tough spot, and I’m sympathetic. He’s trying to radically cut spending, in [...]

Posted in Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Brian Robb, city income tax, city services, class warfare, consolidation of services, Emergency Financial Manager, Emergency Manager, hypocrisy, Karen Maurer, mutual aid, perfect storm, PSO, public safety, public safety officer, Ralph Lange, redistribution of wealth, Rick Snyder, Steve Pierce, Stop City Income Tax, taxes, the concentration of wealth, threats to the middle class, Water Street, wealth inequality, Ypsilanti Fire Department, Ypsilanti police department | 43 Comments

Middle class Michiganders to pay considerably more in taxes despite the anti-tax rhetoric of Lansing Republicans

By Mark | February 19, 2013

Reading an article in the Detroit Free Press this evening about how taxes are going up precipitously on working class Michiganders, I’m reminded of something that I wrote about a year ago for this site. Here’s how my post began. Why is it that we allow the Republicans to refer to themselves as the anti-tax [...]

Posted in Economics, Michigan, Observations, Politics | Also tagged anti-university, class warfare, crazy ideas that just might work, Earned Income Tax Credit, Ed Asner California Association of Teachers, EITC, Emergency Financial Manager, Emergency Financial Manager Act, higher education, income disparity, income tax, Kickstarter, Michael Stampfler, Michigan, Michigan Republicans, progressive taxation, public education, revolution, Rick Snyder, tax credits, tax policy, tax the rich, trickle down economics, we need a revolution | 20 Comments

Should Ypsi withdraw from the Ann Arbor – Ypsilanti Chamber of Commerce?

By Mark | December 14, 2012

It’s been brought to my attention that, during Tuesday’s Ypsi City Council meeting, Pete Murdock will request a vote on a resolution to terminate the City’s relationship with the Ann Arbor – Ypsilanti Regional Chamber of Commerce. “To paraphrase the Governor,” said Murdock in a message that I received earlier this evening, “we are exercising [...]

Posted in Politics, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber of Commerce, consolidation of services, hypocrisy, Michigan Ladder, Paul Schreiber, Pete Murdock, Rick Snyder, Stop City Income Tax, Think Local First, Tom Harrison, Ypsilanti City Council | 20 Comments

On the further downsizing, and possible merging of Ypsilanti’s police and fire departments

By Mark | October 17, 2012

According to AnnArbor.com, our elected leaders are apparently “weighing a plan to combine the city’s police and fire departments” into a single public safety entity, in hopes of cutting costs even further during this unprecedented period of sharply rising costs and falling revenues. Here’s a clip. …The proposal would cross-train police officers and firefighters, cutting [...]

Posted in Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged budget cuts, class warfare, Georgia, Jon Ichesco, Ken Hobbs, Pete Murdock, prisoners, public employee unions, public safety, regional aurhority, SCIT, Stop City Income Tax, Ypsilanti Fire Department, Ypsilanti police department | 40 Comments

My last post on Tuesday’s City Council election… and my first endorsement

By Mark | August 6, 2012

I told myself this weekend that I was done writing about the Ypsilanti City Council race, but, now that I sit here, thinking over how I’m going to vote tomorrow, I find that I have one more thing that I’d like to say… Before I get to it, though, I’d like to preface it by [...]