Michigan's per pupil cost of public education is indefensibly and ridiculously high.

Public education test scores aren't anything to be necessarily proud of either.

I'm also not a big fan of how Michigan's education system is structured, and to be fair here, don't care much for GWB's common core standards.

This is all something I'm working on addressing later in another post.

Gov Snyder's gas tax hike?

I've already covered that one.

So has CS (and another H/T to the good people at MI-AFP for carrying on the fight... Remember: St. Clair Shores, April 23: 7:00pm).

No, this is about a theme that you will be hearing more and more frequently from local units of government in the coming weeks and months.

They are increasingly repeating the same arguments over and over again on how they are "unable to provide the services of government that you have been accustomed to."

You'll also hear the phrase, "We cannot continue to make due with less and less."

And (if I were a betting man), they'll throw in at the end, "something is eventually going to have to give."

They will also lament the current tax structure and the protections put in place on tax hikes (all while conveniently not mentioning the fact these protections were put in place by Michigan Taxpayers fed up with losing their homes in the first place due to a lack of controls on government spending).

On the other side of the equation; Michigan Taxpayers, HAVE found it difficult to maintain the standard of living that they were accustomed to before the recession hit.

Michigan Taxpapers, HAVE had to make due with less and less.

Oh, and Michigan Taxpayers HAVE been making difficult decisions regarding their household budgets...and been doing so for years now!

But who cares about Michigan Taxpayers!

Certainly not local, county and state government.

It more important to local politicos that governments have a steady stream of cash flow, regardless of where it comes from. After all, having local politicians make the tough decisions on where to spend money is just too hard on them.

Don't worry, defenders of the government status quo: Gov. Snyder isn't completely unsympathetic, nor tone deaf on this issue.

One of the tactics Gov. Snyder used to throw those units of government a bone is allowing the creations "authorities".

I've spoken about them earlier under the guises of "the arts", parks, and public transit.

But, you can only go so far with that tactic.

Now he wants to give them something new to put a little extra into the kitty for their general funds under the guise of special assessment districts, specifically by amending Public Act 33 of 1951.

Back in January, Rep. Graves (rino-51), introduced legislation amending the aforementioned PA 33 to tweak to definition of which units of government may be eligible to impose these districts. Followers of local government may recognize them as being similar to their local DDA's. With the notable exception of Rep. Howrylak from Troy, Rep. Graves' bill was intriguingly passed this week with overwhelming republican support.

Not to be outdone on the other side of the aisle, this week Sen. Steve Bieda (Dem-9), introduced a similar bill: SB-307. It is current assigned to the Committee on Local Government and Elections.

Here's where the two bills differ.

Rep. Graves' bill would allow local units of government to simply stick local residents with a higher tax bill without even so much as a vote.

Hi! I'm Rep. Graves and I want to raise your taxes and not let you have any vote on it.

Curiously, Sen. Bieda's bill requires a vote of the people residing within that district.

Hi! I'm Sen. Bieda. I want to raise your taxes, but unlike that man above me, I'll at least let you vote on it.

Ostensibly, these funds are to go for public safety (i.e. Fire, Police & EMS). The amounts that your taxes could go up just may surprise you (cough, cough, 20-mils...no, that isn't a typo).

But those revenues will be designated to go into a local general fund, in which we've already seen what happened in the past with Lansing and the Michigan Lottery: They simply use that new revenue stream to pay for what they are already allocating, and reprogramming the current funding elsewhere.

In short: Lansing is playing a shell game on local taxpayers.

Don't be fooled by shell games!

Better yet, be sure to let your elected official know that you don't like to be fooled by shell games.