Republicans Upset That Gretchen Whitmer Champions Marxist Concept Of 'Eating.'
Poor people getting food? The devil you say.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed into law a bill that would eliminate the asset test for anyone needing food assistance in her state, which passed the Michigan Legislature in June, as we noted at the time.
Whitmer has really turned into the anti-Ron DeSantis, hasn’t she? Like DeSantis, she is the governor of a large swing state, but unlike DeSantis she a) does not hate her constituents, b) pursues policies that would actually help those constituents, and c) does not have a voice like a particularly adenoidal Chihuahua.
The asset test had been signed into law a decade ago by then-Republican Gov. Rick Snyder while he was also busy causing and then not solving the water crisis in Flint. (To be fair, what did the poors need food for if they didn’t have water to wash it down with, checkmate, libs.)
The test, which required families to show that they had less than $15,000 in assets to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), was passed into law because some guy in Michigan kept collecting food assistance after he won $850,000 in the state lottery, which is for sure a dick move! Seems like responding by passing a test hurting people who have not won the lottery might be overkill, but this is a huge fear of Republicans:
“Without this test measuring people’s wealth,” House Minority Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, said in a statement, “even lottery winners and other millionaires could rake in food stamps paid for with our tax dollars that should be going to those who truly need help feeding their families.”
Yeah, the proper thing to do when one lottery winner doesn’t give up his SNAP assistance is to inflict on an entire class of people more government paperwork and punishing hunger until they can prove they really had less money to their name than lobbyists spend buying lawmakers lunch in a week.
Besides, there’s already a federal asset test for people to receive SNAP. A state test is just piling on, which we guess is at least partly why 36 states — make that 37 — do not have such a requirement.
No word on how Michigan Republicans feel about, say, a grossly wealthy billionaire writing off his yachting trips as tax deductions, but as always when it comes to tax dollars, some people’s tax burdens count and others don’t.
Whitmer this week has also signed bills to increase early voting and (hopefully) expand the amount of affordable housing that gets built in Michigan. Oh Lord, people are going to be slightly less hungry and also have places to live? What a nightmare.
“(...)even lottery winners and other millionaires could rake in food stamps(...)”
Yes. They could get up to (checks notes) $281 a month!
*screams in bootstraps*
How many people are there with $1M in assets in the state?
Let's write a bill for significantly increased tax enforcement on high-income/high-asset families, and then the elimination of the food aid asset test doesn't go into effect unless the enforcement program pays for itself with enough left over to afford $281/month per person in Michigan making $1M/year in income last year. Just as a buffer against the possibility that every single one of them decides to commit SNAP fraud.
And THEN, if the program brings in additional tax revenue from the audited millionaires beyond that $281/month per $1m income earner, we salt away ONE HALF of the increase in tax revenue derived from enforcement and use that to increase SNAM benefits the next year with bonus SNAP funds not to exceed 100% of the regular benefits.
And if it keeps bringing in additional money compared to the 2022 baseline -- which it will -- any funds over those required for SNAP bonus funds are stuck in a fund called "GIVE ERRYBODY EAT + HEAT PUMP + SOLAR PANELS" which, y'know, does that.
How about that, Republicans? We only fund these dangerously fraud-vulnerable program if we clean up existing tax fraud. How about that? Whaddaya think? If you're worried about Michigan's share of $31M in national SNAP fraud annually (probably about $1 million), you're surely worried about the $80M or so in annual state income tax fraud, right? It's only 80x the amount of SNAP fraud, surely you're deeply concerned. Right?