Southfield attorney Mark Brewer, who led Michigan's Democratic Party from 1995-2013, keeps a hand in the game as a campaign consultant and political fund-raising adviser at the Goodman Acker law firm. He also doesn't bypass a chance to lob social media shots -- a way to keep trash-talking edges sharp, perhaps.
The Midland-based Mackinac Policy Center dangles an inviting opportunity Tuesday at its Michigan Capitol Confidential blog under the headline "State Income Tax Also Serves as Stealth Welfare Program." Tom Gantert of Jackson, its senior capitol correspondent, writes about "two small state welfare programs that distribute cash subsidies through what may seem an unlikely vehicle, the state income tax code."
These are called the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Homestead Property Tax Credit (HPTC). According to the Michigan Department of Treasury, in 2012 the two programs redistributed a combined $245 million to individuals with very low wage income and families with limited "household resources."
Reasonable people can debate Gantert's premise on economic or social policy grounds . . . or one can try to miscast it as hypocrisy.
Taxpayer-subsidized Mackinac Ctr. paid no income taxes: “@MackinacCenter: Top 1% Paid 15% of State Income Tax; Bottom 33% Got Millions Back"
— Mark Brewer (@MarkBrewerDems) July 6, 2015
He's right that the center, which describes itself as "a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to improving the quality of life for all Michigan citizens by promoting sound solutions to state and local policy questions," gets a free ride from the IRS -- just as millions of nonprofits do.
Its free-market positions generally are embraced by more Republicans than Democrats, but it doesn't do direct candidate endorsements and has the same "taxpayer-subsidized" freedom to comment on tax policy as the nonprofit Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Neither should be smeared unfairly for doing so.
Richard Burr, politics/government editor at The Detroit News and a longtime associate editorial page editor there, also sniffs something foul:
@MarkBrewerDems Are policy nonprofits like @MackinacCenter and @MichLeague supposed to pay income taxes?
— Richard Burr (@RichardBurr_DN) July 6, 2015
Brewer, as feisty as when he jumped into campaign frays, doubles down.
@RichardBurr_DN Hypocrites like @MackinacCenter decry corporate welfare but take it & couldn't exist w/o tax exempt & tax deductible status
— Mark Brewer (@MarkBrewerDems) July 6, 2015
@RichardBurr_DN Much like hypocrite @detroitnews criticizing gov't regulation but clinging to existence only due to JOA under federal law
— Mark Brewer (@MarkBrewerDems) July 6, 2015
Just as the exchange seemed poised for get-the-popcorn entertainment, it ended there.
No one asked us to score it, but we also like to keep a hand in the game and sharpen our edges. Plus, we pay a full share of income taxes, so:
Burr, 1; Brewer, 0
The writer of this commentary, a former News assistant city editor, is acquainted with Burr. They didn't work together directly.
