Republican GOP Candidates Want to End Tax Breaks Bringing 2,500 Jobs

Republican Mike Bouchard has a great idea for improving Michigan -- get rid of a program that just created 2,500 jobs.

The Detroit Free Press reported Thursday (Feb. 25, 2010) that Bouchard says the Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credit program for businesses creating new jobs should be scrapped. Bouchard and two other rivals for the Republican nomination for governor -- Mike Cox and Rick Snyder -- also plan to get rid of the program started by their old buddy John Engler.

Unfortunately for Bouchard, Cox, and Snyder, the Detroit Free Press also reported Thursday that MEGA tax credits are bringing 2,500 manufacturing jobs to the Midland-Saginaw area.

The tax credits will help Dow Chemical manufacture materials for lithium-ion battery cells and solar roof shingles. You know, those pie-in-the-sky green jobs that Gov. Jennifer Granholm is always talking about -- the jobs that are reorienting Michigan's economy from 19th century technology and 20th century jobs to the 21st century.

And if they had their way, Republicans would dump the program that helped make them possible.