Republicans are against higher taxes. That’s their mantra – especially nationally – and they generally do a good job sticking to it, no matter the direness of the straits.
But one Michigan lawmaker is making an exception that likely won’t cause an uproar among his GOP colleagues. State Rep. Anthony Forlini, a Harrison Township Republican, wants to impose a sales tax on inmates, Gongwer News reported.
Way back when, state officials decided prisoners didn’t need to pay the state sales tax on non-food items at the prison store – like the rest of us pay out in the free world. Perhaps, the thinking was prisoners should be cut a break because they make only token money by working a prison job (74 cents a day to start). And the prison store where inmates might buy shaving cream represents a captive economy.
But Forlini doesn’t believe prisoners deserve any tax break (and he may be right). His bill was slated today for a vote in the House, and, if approved, it heads to the Senate.
The best news? The bill would generate about $400,000 annually – not exactly pocket change in a state that until recently was the very definition of fiscally strapped.
Interestingly, years ago, then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a similar measure into law, but it was later rescinded after a prisoner pointed out that it was tie-barred to another bill she vetoed.
