North Oakland Democratic Club

12 Quick Facts about Michigan Government

• State government is the smallest it’s been since the early 1970s.
• Adjusted for inflation, state revenues are at the level they were in 1964.
• Michigan is $9 billion below the spending limit imposed by the Headlee amendment to the state constitution.
• The governor has cut more out of state government than any governor in history — more than $10 billion in deficits have been resolved since 2003. The governor has sold off airplanes, car fleets and state property, and eliminated state boards, agencies and commissions.
• From 2001 to 2008, the size of the state workforce decreased by more than 11,000.
• Michigan has a lower number of state and local employees per capita than 44 other states.
• Department of Human Services workers who assist needy families have caseloads of 600 to 900 per worker. The fiscal year 2010 budget cuts 300 more employees from DHS.
• Cuts in revenue sharing over the past eight years have caused the layoffs of more than 2,400 police officers and 1,800 fire fighters across the state.
• Among states levying individual incomes taxes, Michigan’s flat tax rate of 4.35 percent ranks 38th.
• Michigan’s state/local tax burden percentage of 9.4 percent of income ranks 27th highest nationally, below the national average of 9.7 percent.
• In the last eight years, real wage growth for state employees has been very close to zero, and state employees are paying more for their health care and retirement benefits. State employee concessions total in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
• Since the start of Governor Granholm’s administration in 2003, $2.8 billion has been saved in areas such as contracts, lease/rent reduction, mail, fleet reductions, retirement savings, self-insurance rate reduction, project management, retirement savings and surplus property sales.

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