LANSING, MI – The Michigan AFL-CIO released the following statement today in response to former Lt. Governor Brian Calley’s recent statements regarding the tax reform package moving through the state legislature this week.
“Unfortunately for Mr. Calley, some of our memories just aren’t that short,” said Ron BIEBER, President of the Michigan AFL-CIO. “It was then-Lt. Governor Brian Calley who proudly cast the tie-breaking vote to gut the EITC in 2011, raising taxes on working-class Michiganders. Then they turned around and gave corporations and their rich CEO friends a $1.6 billion tax cut. Undoing the damage done by the Snyder-Calley administration is rightly a top priority for the first pro-worker government in decades.”
Democrats’ “Lowering MI Costs” plan represents a nearly $1 billion tax cut for hardworking Michigan families, eliminates the Snyder-Calley retirement tax, and increases the Working Families Tax Credit. These actions will save 500,000 retired senior households an average of $1,000 a year, deliver a refund of at least $3,000 to 700,000 hard-working Michigan families, and benefit almost 1 million Michigan children.
“Governor Whitmer and the Democratic majorities in the state legislature are working hard to restore worker freedom and give working families a fair chance at a decent life,” BIEBER continued. “It’s time for the Republicans in Lansing to end the name-calling and hypocrisy, and join a bipartisan majority in repealing the Snyder-Calley retirement tax and boosting the Working Families Tax Credit.”
The Michigan AFL-CIO, Michigan’s largest labor organization, is a federation representing forty different labor organizations, eighteen different central labor councils, and eight constituency groups representing over 1 million union members and their families.
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