MTA Director's address to 600 protesters/activists on the steps of the State Capitol Building during Governor Granholm's State of the State.

Fellow citizens and taxpayers,

I am here today to report to you on the state of Michigan taxpayers.

I will NOT restate the obvious: that our incomes are declining while our state and local politicians work feverishly to protect the income and benefits of the government class.

I will NOT recount the fleecing of taxpayers that Lansing orchestrated in 2007, when they raised the state income tax by 12% and business tax by 23%.

I will NOT dwell on the facts we already know – the fact that the Obama administration is robbing our futures blind with unprecedented borrowing and spending. And that Lansing is gobbling up every dollar of that federal spending in a desperate effort to avoid real reforms, to avoid spending restraint, and to avoid fiscal reality.

It is no longer a secret that taxpayers have been funding platinum-clad benefits and jackpot pensions for politicians, public university employees, local government employees, public teacher union employees and the whole bureaucrat class.

Mainstream media are now reporting what taxpayer watchdogs have been decrying for years: tax dollars are NOT being prioritized by government to be spent on core services for citizens, but are being spent on superior lifestyles for the people that are supposed to be providing those services.

No, there is no need to keep beating that dead horse.

So instead of me reporting to you the sad state of affairs that is the hollowing out Michigan taxpayers for this past decade, I am here to report to you what we are facing in our immediate future.

The year 2010 will be the most important year in modern Michigan history. 2010, is the year during which a new Michigan is created, or the year that Michigan gives up and becomes a permanent parasite state, a poor state dependent on federal bailouts for decades.

On February 11th , Governor Granholm will reveal her annual budget proposal to the legislature. This budget proposal will include a sweeping “tax restructuring” plan. Granholm has chosen the words “tax restructuring” to replace the word “revenues”.

And Granholm used the word “revenues” to replace the words “tax increases”. Just like Granholm was UNsuccessful at hiding tax hikes with the word “revenues”, she will be unsuccessful concealing tax hikes with the words “tax restructuring”. Friends, we are NOT FOOLED and the citizens of Michigan are not fools: Governor Granholm wants to transfer more money from your pocket into the pockets of the government class.

This is the year that politicians of any party who want to protect government more than citizens will use the words “tax restructuring” in the hopes of avoiding the words, “reduced spending”. The political language of 2010 will feature a prominent battle between those two phrases.

Tax restructuring ideas will include raising the state’s income tax on “the wealthy”, which would result in an increase in wealth exiting Michigan to friendlier states. Tax restructuring advocates will use the term “modernizing our tax code” in their rhetoric. We won’t be fooled. What these folks want – really, really want – is what is left of the taxpayers’ plummeting incomes. They need even more of your money to prop up the spending levels that they have become addicted to.

The year 2010 will be the most important year in modern Michigan history. It is the year that the accounting gimmicks run out. It is the year that the borrowed federal stimulus money runs out. It is the year that cosmetic, hidden fee hikes won’t be enough for Lansing’s spenders.

The year 2010 will be the most important year in modern Michigan history because it also happens to be the year that taxpayers’ money reserves are drained beyond strained.

Taxpayers went through their savings in the early 2000’s. They went through their retirement money in the late 2000’s. As citizens’ incomes went down, their taxes went up. And now, there is nothing left to give to Lansing. Except to give up and move away.

Friends, we cannot allow Governor Granholm and those that seek to protect big spending to succeed. The year 2010 will be the most important year in modern Michigan history.

Now I would like to report to you the good news: that the state of the taxpayer is strong. In fact, it is stronger than it has been in decades. Not because taxpayers have any money, but because taxpayers are now engaged in the fight to rescue Michigan.

Taxpayers are organized, motivated, angry and determined. Taxpayers are researching issues about government spending, attending tea parties and town hall meetings. They are talking to their neighbors on the internet.

Taxpayers are forcing elected officials to listen. Both political parties are now being forced to talk about public employee benefit reform because taxpayers are now demanding those reforms. Even Governor Granholm is finally willing to dip her toe into the issue of government-class benefit reforms after seven years of ignoring the issue.

Taxpayers are stronger today than any time in decades. Why else would so many drive to Lansing tonight and stand here in the freezing cold to demand that Lansing see us and hear us? Not because we are weak, but because we are strong.

This year, every politician is being tested. Which ones will side with taxpayers and reduce the cost of services through spending reforms, like reducing bureaucrat and politician benefit levels, and which ones will find excuses to protect the status quo? Taxpayers are absolutely ready to hold them accountable. So many elected officials have let us down this past decade. But most politicians have an opportunity to be heroes of taxpayers if they are willing to follow the citizens and taxpayers and vote for what is right. If they aren’t sure how a congressman or legislator can be an advocate for taxpayers, well, they can always ask someone like Tim Walberg, who is with us here tonight and who has a consistent, if sometimes lonely record in Congress, of being on the side of taxpayers and opposing the Nancy Pelosi big-government agenda.

Two years ago, we lost the battle in Lansing when Granholm imposed the income tax and business tax hikes. We learned a lot from that loss. But a lot has happened in two years: Obama tripled the federal debt in one year, Michigan’s economy collapsed even further, tax dollars were borrowed to bail out politically well-connected national companies.

And taxpayers were jolted awake. What does T.E.A. party mean? It means Taxed Enough Already! And the tea party movement is shaking the government class up!

Where taxpayers were asleep, they are now awake. Where they were distracted, they are now paying attention. Where they were disinterested, they are now involved. While taxpayers are broke, they are NOT broken.

Tonight, my fellow citizens, I bring you good news. The state of the taxpayer is strong. Stronger than ever.

This is the year that the taxpayers – organized, educated, and motivated- fight back. We are ready to fight for spending restraint, for fiscal sanity, for reform, and we demand that Lansing make citizens and taxpayers the most important “special interest” of lawmakers.

The year 2010 will be the most important year in modern Michigan history and taxpayers are ready to fight back and ready to win!

Thank you.