Property tax hike vote Nov. 8

On Nov. 8th, there is a special election to determine whether to raise the property taxes you pay toward the Macomb Intermediate School District (MISD) by 40.7%! You probably don't know much about the election, and public school union leaders prefer that you not know and not vote – that's why public school leaders put this millage increase on a special ballot this November instead of waiting for next year's large-turnout presidential election ballot.

921 Macomb County public school employees make over $100,000 per year!

The MISD tax hike "would give every school district in Macomb County much-needed additional money" according to the MISD website. But do school districts really need more of your income? A new state law requires school districts to publicly list the number of district employees that are compensated more than $100,000 per year in salary and benefits. Macomb County school districts report that over 921 public school employees in Macomb County make over $100,000 per year in wages and bennies.

Learn how to appeal your property tax assessments by attending a free, two-hour workshop offered by the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance and the Wayne County Taxpayers Association. Currently scheduled are three workshops in Flat Rock, Wyandotte, and Ira Township. More workshops are currently being organized.

“Homeowners’ property taxes don’t always decrease when property values do,” stated Rose Bogaert, Chair of the Wayne County Taxpayers Association. “Too many struggling homeowners may end up paying too much in property taxes if they don’t appeal their assessments. These workshops will provide valuable, expert and free information to homeowners.”

Currently scheduled workshops:

Thursday, February 10, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Patriots of Southeast Michigan, Community Lutheran Church, 23984 Gibraltar Rd, Flat Rock, MI. It is 1/2 mile east of Telegraph Rd and 1/2 mile west of the I-75 Gibraltar Rd exit

Wednesday, February 16, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church 2803 First St. Wyandotte, MI.

Monday, February 28th 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
6319 County Line Road located just north of 25 Mile Rd., Ira Township, MI

Can't make it to any of the workshops? You can also order a DVD of our workshop! Click here for details.

Click here to order online!

Compensation for Michigan's private sector citizens decreased by 10.3% between 2007 and the third quarter of 2009 - the most recent data available from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. Most Michiganders are earning less and struggling to get by.

But one group is actually becoming richer in Michigan: government employees. State and local government employee compensation increased by 5.5% during the same period, and federal employee compensation is up by 7.5%.

And the good times will keep rolling for state government bureaucrats who are scheduled to receive a nice 3% pay increase this year unless two-thirds of state lawmakers vote to halt the pay hike.

Who pays for generous government employee pay increases in these tough times? Remember that Governor Granholm and state lawmakers hiked the state income tax by 12% and the state business tax by 22% back in 2007? Those tax hikes meant more money out of your shrinking paycheck and into the fatter paychecks of Michigan's government class.

The Taxpayer Minutemen Project

During the American Revolutionary War, Minutemen volunteered to organize quickly in defense of fellow citizens who faced oppression from the British government. They pledged to respond “at a minute's warning” to threats against fellow citizens during the war. Minuteman Paul Revere spread the news that "the Redcoats are coming!" when the British marched to subjugate the towns of Lexington and Concord in April of 1775.

We need YOU to be a Taxpayer Minuteman!

Taxpayer Minutemen are citizens who care about protecting fellow taxpayers from ever-growing, expensive and fiscally abusive government.

Just complaining about increasing taxes and wasteful government spending won’t get anyone in the government to listen to us. Politicians only care about the demands of organized interest groups who can threaten their chances at reelection.

Minutemen are organized to fight back against tax hiking politicians – quickly and effectively!