Jul 29 2007
Charles Slat: Tourism a Key to Michigan’s Future
Charles Slat has a neat article/editorial in today’s Evening News. He writes about his recent vacation to northern and western lower Michigan. And he has some thoughts about Monroe’s possible role in Michigan’s tourism industry. Check it out:
http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070729/BUSINESS/107290020
Mike,
I found Charles’s article to be interesting. Although I get the local slant on gaining the bucks spent by tourists for the local economy, the good governor might be promoting outside the state, but she seems to be making it harder on its own residents to enjoy what the state has to offer.
I love the House of Flavors in Ludington, and all the ice cream varities it has to offer. Ok, there are rumors of fantastic salmon fishing too. The fort on the island is the only one in American history that was ever surrendered to a foreign nation, also, during the War of 1812. In that case, without a shot being fired.
If Korea is known as the forgotten war, then the Battle for the River Raisin, and its aftermath, should be known as the forgotten battle of that war. When a young nation once cried, “Remember the Raisin”, those words meant something from the shores of the Atlantic to the edge of the wilderness in Illinois. I know recently that grants have been applied for to help promote and save this national resource.
Mr. Slat also mention that people are coming in, despite rising gas prices. Will that trend continue after the gas taxes, already some of the highest in the nation, behind such states as Wisconsin and California, are raised some more under new proposals. Gov. Granholm has far reaching ideas, but little sense, as in cents, on how to pay for them, except with raising taxes across the board.
More tourists come into the state during the fishing and hunting seasons, and the plans are to welcome them with higher fees. Not the best way to attract that out of state dollar. If Michigan’s future is truly going to depend on attracting out of state tourists to come across our borders in droves, why not make it tourist friendly. If items cost less, more people come, more items get purchased, Michigan survives. As an angler and hunter, I know I have had to watch my trips this year. I fished Erie half as much as I usually do, didnt go to St. Clair at all to muskie fish, and this next trip to the Upper Peninsula and to the cabin will be last until hunting season.
Mason, thanks for responding.
I tend not to believe in blanket statements. Certainly, the price of an item often impacts my purchasing decisions. But tax money goes to pay for important items like education and critical infrastructure (bridges, etc.). For instance, I would have zero problem with tax money paying for one or two more bridges to Canada. I think that they would more than pay for themselves.
When the tax money isn’t there, though, it seems that the slack is picked up by user fees. So, bridge tolls go up. State forest camping fees and state park stickers increase in price. Professional certifications cost more. Vehicle license fees get bigger.
Or services decrease. I read on another bulletin board that the state just ended its sale and distribution of USGS quads. They apparently threw them out at the start of this month. And the closure of 20 state forest campgrounds on July 1st was ludicrous. They saved $75,000 and probably decreased the sales tax receipts of local gas stations, restaurants and bait shops by even more.
And I think that much of our current trouble is tied to the reconstitution of the auto industry. Most of that difficulty has nothing to do with state tax levels. It has to do with national industrial competitiveness and our woeful health care system. And, of course, it has to do with the individual auto companies’ decisionmaking. State taxation is, I think, a small part of that puzzle.
So, I think that some taxes need to be raised. And I think that some taxes need to be decreased. Some spending needs to go up. And some spending needs to go down. It needs to be strategic to spur the creation of new business without undercutting revenue producing expenditures like education and critical infrastructure.
It doesn’t make for a nice bumper sticker. But real life can’t be boiled down to a catchy slogan.
One thing that I would like to see is better use of state land in terms of revenue generation. Ohio has a fantastic system of state park resorts. They make about 3 million dollars through a partnership with Xterra for operation of lodges and restaurants. These have an additional benefit of attracting convention business. I think that it would be great to have a lodge/convention/nature center at Sterling State Park.
The Ohio state parks also have park stores that sell milk, groceries, etc. The one at Hocking Hills SP raised $150,000 in its first year of operation. Why not raise money this way?
Mike,
Totally agree with you when it comes to bridges, and other public works programs that would stimulate jobs and the economy in turn. Absolutely, but if you look at what it took to build the Mighty Mac, it wasnt tax dollars, but bonds, which were underwritten by a New York firm. Then repaid, by the tolls collected. If those bridges were paid for, by tax dollars, they will pay for themselves, and will increase tax revenue for the state thats true. But do you think that if they raised the taxes to build them, that the tax would be eleminated once the bridges became self sufficient?
Gov Granholm practically gave away land to Toyota. The state accepted a lower bid, when a company right here in Michigan was willing to pay more for the land near the Milan prisons. I get the concept, but they were given tax breaks, property tax that could have gone to Michigan schools. What did Toyota do with a good chunk of that property, promptly sold it for further profit of a foreign company.
The instability of the state, can be contributed to the current tax system. While the governor was out of the country courting foreign investors, Comerica Bank moved to Texas because of the tax structure. New automotive plants are being built, just not in Michigan. Nothing against the good folks of Mississippi, but when they, and every other state in the Union is prospering, can we just blame the declining auto industry.
Before the last election Lansing said the state was in the black, a month later, we were 300 million in the hole. That statement was just to soften us up for the really bad news that came four months later. Oh shucks, we miscalculated, make that 800 mil in the red. Also, suspiciously, the University of Michigan announced a study that they had finished before the election, but withheld it until after, that the states home building industry had been in decline for the past few years.
I firmly believe in taxes for the greater good, but they have to make sense. Right now they are proposing in the state congress to raise the tobacco tax again. Everyone’s favorite whipping boy, and I dont smoke, and I realize that the profit would go to the schools. But at the same time, those tax revenues are about to be cut, with proposed smoking bans throughout the state. If that money is lost in declining sales, where will the money that was earmarked for the schools come from, yet another tax.
I’m heading up to the Hiawatha National Forest in the Upper this week, perhaps the state should do what the Feds have already figured out. There is a park just down the road from the family cabin, where I spent many days of past Augusts growing up. A private company runs the campground, collects the fees, takes its percentage, and picks up the trash. Occassionally there is a forestry truck that comes through to get a head count, but they are local retired people, who do supplement their income with a part time job. Now this is a pretty rustic campground, and not all state parks could be run this way, but it could save a few of them. I like the your idea, of adopting some of the practices of the Ohio state system. Would need to know more details to completely make up my mind, but would be worth looking into.
I support the schools, as a former teacher even understand better how the internal workings actually run. When state congressman come back, and declare every child in the state will be given a MP3 by such and such a date. I have serious concerns on how that tax money is being spent. I know they backed off that statement because of the public outcry, but still they believed it at one point. When Detroit schools are kept open, with a full staff, but have only a handful of students attending. Ouch, dumping more money into a failed system is not the answer. Just be constructive, and use some some sense in Lansing.
You mentioned that the price of an item will have an influence on whether you purchase the item or not. If the item becomes more costly than you are willing to pay, does that not mean a loss in sales tax revenue? Since I write about the outdoors, lets say this, a family has to move from Michigan to search for a job. The father wants to bring his kids back to the state to fish or hunt in the areas in which he spent his youth. To share his heritage and pass down stories of yesteryear. His deer license could cost $175, triple that cost with two of the children going with him, plus increased fees and taxes. Thats a source of income lost to the state.
Going with the history teacher background, there could be a Brest Bay Tea Party in the future. There is a catchy slogan that probably wont catch on, but when is enough, really enough.
I enjoy reading your blog, keep it up. Very refreshing.