From taxes to budget priorities, here's where the Republican gubernatorial candidates stand on how they would improve Michigan's economy.
Tudor Dixon
Dixon wants to phase out Michigan’s personal income tax over several years. She said to stimulate the economy she will cut regulations, invest in workforce-training partnerships, and push trades and high-demand jobs at the state level.
Ryan Kelley
Kelley’s plan for the economy involves eliminating unemployment for “those refusing to return to work.” He wants to bolster small businesses through regulation and tax reduction. He supports a Free Market Economy. He wants to eliminate property taxes and explore oil production that can provide payouts to Michigan residents.
Although they are happening worldwide, Kelley holds the US pandemic responses and the Biden administration responsible for supply chain shortages and inflation.
Ralph Rebandt
Rebandt wants to significantly reduce state spending. He said to do this, he will reform “entitlement programs,” often available to low-income residents, and create return-to-work incentive programs. He wants to continue the ban on “earmarks” in the state budget, saying that is a corrupt practice. And he wants to form an “anti-appropriations committee” to reduce “state non-essential spending.”
His goal as governor is to reduce taxes and reduce state industry regulations.
Kevin Rinke
Rinke considers inflation and its effect on the overall economy as an impending “storm,” which he feels confident to handle.
Rinke indicates that he would take a business-administration approach to being governor. He wants to eliminate the state’s income tax. He would wait a full year before implementation to allow legislators time to adjust to the lost revenue. There were no suggestions made about what programs to cut.
Garrett Soldano
Soldano said that revitalizing small businesses is key to “bringing back” the Michigan economy. He does not think tax incentives for large corporations are helpful or fair.
Soldano wants a forensic accounting of state expenditures, saying Michigan’s population has shrunk. He wants to go line-by-line to make budget cuts that match that population loss.
Soldano also wants to eliminate the state income tax, but has not supplied any specifics on how he would do that.
