Tax Fairness Will Benefit All Michiganders

Guest Opinion

Whether or not we want to admit, taxes are the bedrock of a healthy society. Without taxes, there would be no public roads and bridges, no firefighters, no libraries, and no public schools. We’d lose out on scientific research, public parks would fail to flourish, and struggling families would be left to their own devices to figure out how to pay for basic needs like food, housing, and healthcare.

And yet, to many Americans, the idea of taxes is like the devil incarnate and liable to provoke tirades about theft and the futility of government.

If we want to create a brighter and more prosperous future for Michiganders and people across the country, we must shift the narrative around taxation.

In the past few months, we’ve witnessed budget fights in both the Michigan legislature and U.S. Congress—and in both cases, crucial public services were on the chopping block. Republicans’ budgets threaten drastic cuts to education, healthcare, and food assistance programs.

At the same time, ballot petition drive season is in full swing, with two vastly different tax-related proposals aiming for the 2026 ballot. One, “Invest in MI Kids,” would increase the tax rate paid by the wealthiest Michiganders, with all revenue generated to be put directly into funding public education. The other, titled “AxMITax,” would eliminate all property taxes, blowing a massive hole in state revenue that would be particularly destructive to public school funding.

This next year will be a pivotal time in Michigan politics. We have the opportunity to lead the way in charting a path toward the brighter future working Michiganders deserve—or we could wreck our state’s ability to fund public education and other key programs and public services, taking us backward.

It’s critical that we get this right, and understanding where the prevalent anti-tax mindset comes from is a critical first step toward dismantling it.

For decades, Republican lawmakers and pundits have been telling the same story about taxes, government, and the American individual’s obligation to pull oneself up by one’s bootstraps. By repeating these talking points over and over, they’ve turned that story into something resembling conventional wisdom.

This strategy has been so effective that Democratic lawmakers have been tempted to co-opt it, adding anti-tax language to their vocabulary and further legitimizing the GOP narrative.

The problem isn’t limited to messaging, though. Since the Reagan administration, the gaps in wealth and income between the top one percent and everyone else have skyrocketed. The cost of living has steadily increased, but wages for the working class haven’t kept up, leaving too many families struggling to make ends meet.

Meanwhile, the federal government has poured billions, even trillions of dollars into perpetually expanding the military, funding conflict and regime change abroad, incarcerating thousands upon thousands of American citizens, and terrorizing the immigrant community. We spend an almost unfathomable amount of money on priorities that do precisely nothing to strengthen our communities or meet folks’ basic needs.

It is worth noting that despite the unpopularity of taxes as a general concept, that attitude often doesn’t extend to local millages. Even last year, in an election that Republicans dominated, the vast majority of millages on the ballot across the state passed. The likely explanation is that millage proposals draw a direct link between the additional money residents are asked to pay and the specific services they can expect that money to fund.

The other glaring barrier to a more just tax system is that while working people have paid our fair share year in and year out, the wealthiest among us have been coddled and allowed to avoid doing their part.

The “Invest in MI Kids” ballot initiative is poised to address both problems simultaneously. It proposes that individuals who make more than $500k per year and couples who make more than $1 million pay a bit more in taxes and tells voters exactly where that money will be spent. And, best of all, it’s something voters can pass independently, without being forced to rely on lawmakers to take the bold action we need.

With hard work, solidarity, and a bit of luck, this ballot initiative may be a chance to show the public a glimpse of what is possible if corporations and the wealthy are made to pay what they owe, and if we prioritize things like education, climate justice, and access to healthcare and housing.

Working Americans have cause to believe the system isn’t serving us, but the problem isn’t that taxes are inherently bad or unjust. It’s that for too long, greedy corporations and the elected officials they bankroll have been calling the shots while the rest of our needs go unaddressed.

Things are looking bleak right now, but this is not the time to give up hope. This is a time to come together, to think big, and to create the future our communities deserve.

Denzel McCampbell is the managing director of Progress Michigan, a nonprofit communications advocacy and government watchdog group.

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