Michigan and Taxes

I don't really know what to make of the following story, because I generally distrust any politician not named "Ron Paul." But I do find the following intriguing:

From the Michigan Chamber of Commerce:
Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) is proposing running the current fiscal year, which is scheduled to end Sept. 30, until Sept. 30, 2008 — basically combining the two — as a way to give the state the time to generate the revenues necessary to balance both budgets.

[...]

Unlike the private sector, the public sector operates under a strict time cycle for its budget. That can make some of the long-term decisions government needs to make difficult to accomplish. But if government can be run more like a business, the state of Michigan in the end may come out the beneficiary.

According to our local all-advertising (with 30 seconds of news thrown in every 10 minutes) radio station, AM 950, WWJ, Dillon wants to start a voluntary program for state employees to contribute toward their health care plans that will cover them in retirement. The current arrangement is a $13 billion unfunded liability for the state.

WWJ also reported that the Dems plan on cutting $1 billion, plus reform government by reviewing performance of the state government — function by function and department by department. These reforms would assess how efficiently state programs are administered and how effective the program is in the first place.

Finally, some Democrats want to bring state employees to "parity" with private enterprise positions.

From what I can gather, after Dillon's reforms and tax structure are put in place, the Democrats plan is to jack up the taxes.

If Michigan is going to rebound economically, two things need to happen. First, taxes must be lowered across the board. Second, oppressive regulations must be eliminated. Without this, government reforms won't matter.