By Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Contributor
This month, I signed my eighth balanced, bipartisan budget as governor. It’s the product of Republicans and Democrats working together to deliver on the issues Michiganders face every day. This budget lowers costs, invests in our kids, grows our economy, and keeps our state moving forward.
At a time when people are feeling squeezed by higher everyday expenses, this budget cuts taxes and helps you keep more of your hard-earned money. It continues the Working Family Tax Credit, putting nearly $3,000 back into the pockets of more than 665,000 families. It completes the rollback of the retirement tax for half a million seniors and eliminates taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security so workers and retirees can have more money put back into their pockets.
This budget also delivers on one of my top priorities: making sure every kid in Michigan can read, eat, and succeed. We are investing more than $500 million to improve literacy through early starts, proven methods, and extra supports because being able to read sets up our children for success right from the start. We’re continuing to feed all 1.4 million public school students free breakfast and lunch, saving parents nearly $1,000 per child each year. We’re expanding free pre-K to an estimated 68,000 children, continuing before-and-after school programs that support students and their working parents, and making another record investment in every public school across Michigan.
And we’re not stopping at pre-K through 12th grade: we’re also continuing the Michigan Achievement Scholarship and Michigan Reconnect so more students can earn a college degree or skilled trades certificate tuition-free. Every child deserves the chance to succeed, and every family deserves to know opportunity is within reach.
With this budget, we’re making sure Michigan remains a place where businesses invest, workers succeed, and communities grow. Our budget supports small businesses and entrepreneurs, expands workforce training, and continues investing in industries that will shape Michigan’s future. Whether someone is opening a business on Main Street, learning a skilled trade, or pursuing a career in advanced manufacturing, technology, or defense, we’re creating more pathways to good-paying jobs so people can build their futures here at home.
Finally, this budget continues investing in the foundations that make us a strong state. We are protecting access to Medicaid and maternal health care for the thousands of Michiganders who rely on it. We are continuing to fix the damn roads, expanding affordable housing, protecting our air, land, and water, and helping first responders do their job and keep communities stay safe.
This is my eighth – and final – budget as governor, and I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished together over the last seven and a half years. Together, we’ve fixed more roads, supported more students, built more houses, and expanded more rights than any other administration in state history. This budget will continue to build on that progress, leave our state stronger than before, and keep things moving forward for Michigan.
