I have been pondering how 2026 is going to end up, which might be a little odd being that we are still at the beginning of a brand new year. While I know that seems a bit weird, I'm already thinking about November of 2026, not only on the national side but here in the great state of Michigan.
Only because we get to pick a brand new governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, and that is exciting for someone such as myself.
I'm so boring, I know.
Gretchen Whitmer, our governor for the past seven years, Dana Nessel the Attorney General of the state and Jocelyn Benson our current Secretary of State ( who is also running for the Democratic nomination for Governor to replace Gretchen) are all termed out of their current positions.
The current budget still needs to be done by the current governor and passed by the current legislature. That gives Governor Whitmer a chance to leave her mark in the state before she walks out of the governor's mansion January 1st of 2027, and into a possible role nationally which might include the presidential race of 2028.
I'm guessing leaving the state with higher taxes in your final budget proposal is not going to go over with folks as well as Whitmer hoped.
It's a budget that comes in at 88 billion dollars, which is a far distance away from where Republican Rick Snyder, whom she replaced, did in his final year. I wrote about this in 2025, and the important part I once again post to remind everyone where we once were.
Rick Snyder, who was the LAST GOP Governor we had, passed a budget of almost $57 billion. When Snyder took over from Jennifer Granholm, his first budget was $45 billion.
Here are some details from his last budget in 2018, before Gretch took over:
The Governor recommends FY 2018-19 Gross appropriations of $56.8 billion and Adjusted Gross appropriations of $55.9 billion. Included in this appropriation total are $22.7 billion of Federal funds, $385.9 million of local and private funds, $22.8 billion of State Restricted revenue, and $10.0 billion of GF/GP revenue. Table 1 outlines the sources of funding for each department and budget area included in the Governor's recommendation. Figures A and B illustrate the total funding by source and major spending category. Compared with FY 2017-18 year-to-date appropriations, the Governor's FY 2018-19 budget includes a Gross appropriation increase of $173.6 million or 0.3%, an increase in State Spending from State Resources appropriations of $599.8 million or 1.9%, and a decrease in GF/GP appropriations of $32.1 million or 0.3%.
So, a 12 billion dollar increase during the eight years Rick was at the helm
She is blowing Snyder out of the stadium with how much the state is proposing to spend now. Whitmer is currently asking for $31 billion MORE than her predecessor did in his last year as governor; that was just eight years ago and some change.
I read the latest, dirty details HERE, and started to wonder what is going on in Lansing, the capital.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is seeking about $900 million in new tax revenue and a $400 million withdrawal from the state's rainy day fund to help balance her budget proposal for next year, despite key Republicans already opposing the ideas.
On Wednesday, Whitmer's administration presented her annual plan for funding state government to the Legislature. The Democratic governor's $88.1 billion proposal painted a rocky and uncertain financial picture and included a bevy of new taxes on smokers, gamblers and digital advertising, at a time when some GOP lawmakers are pushing for tax cuts.
What I found out is the state is in a bit of damn mess.
Michigan is normally a blue-color state that has no problem splitting the ticket for people in statewide office. Governor Whitmer is a two-time elected Democrat who followed a two-time elected Republican. The state legislature has been run by Republicans, except for a brief time a couple years ago where the Democrats took control.
However, now is not the time to do whatever the knee-jerk reaction that Republicans or Democrats will do; now is the time to just do the right thing.
I have a very plain and simple idea, which is basic and somewhat plain.
Adhere to the state constitution and balance the budget, and then how about cutting the budget to actually do the right thing. If you increased the budget 31 billion dollars in just under eight years, maybe you could cut this back to $85 billion just for kicks?
I bet this could be done, but do the people who make decisions in the Great Lake State want to do that?
That remains to be seen.
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