Jack Lessenberry is a veteran Michigan journalist and political commentator who has a daily commentary on the local NPR station. I usually like hearing him, as he's an insightful and independent thinker--he's expanded my perspective on things any number of times. I especially liked his piece yesterday. A few excerpts:
A few months ago, Western Michigan University commissioned a survey to find out which states were doing the best at attracting high-tech and new-economy businesses--the businesses, that is, that Michigan needs if we are ever to have a future. You might assume the states with the lowest tax rates were doing the best.
But that would be dead wrong. The survey found that having an educated work force was the most important thing to tech-savvy entrepreneurs who are thinking about expanding their operations. Western hired EPIC-MRA to look at the business climate in five states, which ended up being ranked in this order: California, followed by Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio.
Which of those states have the highest business taxes? Massachusetts and California, by far. Do the entrepreneurs surveyed like paying higher taxes? Not very much. But they are willing to do so, because what they get back. An educated work force, and a decent infrastructure, both high-tech, as in fiber-optic cable, and lower-tech, as in bridges and roads which weren'’t collapsing.
Michigan ranked fourth, both in overall desirability and in having an educated work force.
This is discouraging, but not nearly so much as the finding that our businessmen were dead last in valuing a highly educated work force and understanding how important that is to our state'’s future. Only a third of our businessmen really get it, as opposed to twice that many in the leading states.
Full disclosure: I teach in a university and so have a personal stake in the health of higher ed. But the point here is that everyone else does too, not least business people, and those who might like to work for them. Besides, any new funding for universities is unlikely to flood into English departments.
Another study found that attitudes toward education aren't all that's putting Michigan at a competitive disadvantage. The Michigan Small Business Association recently published an Enteprenurial Scorecard which found, among other things, that Michigan's infrastructure ranked 42nd out of 50 states.
Lessenberry comes to the unpleasant, but I think unavoidable, conclusion that new tax revenues are required to fix these problems. In the state's current political climate, that idea is about as likely to fly as legalizing heroin. I'm not fond of paying taxes, but I don't know how else the state can fund universities (and scholarships), rebuild roads, and pursue other improvements (some stronger environmental and fish/wildlife enforcement would be nice, while we're at it). The old argument is that if you cut tax rates, businesses will grow, earning higher profits, putting more people to work and thus increasing tax revenues. But former Gov. John Engler cut taxes steadily during his twelve years in office, and we still are where we are. It's time for some new thinking about how we generate prosperity. We can start by jettisoning the notion that you can get something for nothing.
Tags: Education; Politics; Michigan
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