Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Monday morning that all taxpayers in Michigan will be receiving a $180 "inflation relief check" sometime this year, as long as she's able to gain the support of Republicans in the legislature.
The relief check will come out "as soon as possible" Whitmer told reporters at a press conference in Lansing. The check is part of a larger joint tax break effort between Democratic legislative leaders and the Whitmer administration, which the governor has deemed the "Lowering MI Costs" plan.
The plan would also repeal the tax on retirees and increased the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC.
The EITC increase would put an average of $3,150 back into the pockets of 700,000 Michiganders, while the retirement tax repeal would save 500,000 households an average of $1,000 a year, according to the governor's office.
"With the passage of this plan, we are making good on our promise to the people of Michigan," Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, said at the press conference Monday.
Whitmer described it as "the largest tax break for working families and seniors in Michigan in decades" as she stood alongside Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, and Tate.
The total cost of the relief checks, per Whitmer's office, is $800 million.
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Lowering MI Costs was announced last Friday after closed-door negotiations between Democrats and the governor's office. In order for the plan to go into effect in time for checks to be received by taxpayers in late spring or early summer, as the governor's spokesperson Bobby Leddy said they aimed for, leaders in the newly Democrat-led Legislature would need to get the support of Republicans.
"This is very broad tax relief, this is immediate tax relief, it's more tax relief than we would have been looking at without this package. It's fairer, it's longer. So, there's a lot here that Republicans really like," Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said. "It may surprise folks, but we do listen to folks on the other side of the aisle when we're putting together good policy."
Whitmer said she would "welcome bipartisan support" on the plan.
"I really think that, having been a Senate Minority Leader, I can tell you there will probably be a lot of votes on both sides of the aisle," she said.
Republican legislative leadership did not directly shoot down the proposal Monday, though they raised concerns.
"It looks like Governor Whitmer is starting to move in our direction," House Minority Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, said. "I've asked her team, show me the plan. Provide it in writing. Let me read the bill. They're not doing that. So, that raises some red flags."
Whitmer did not say how the plan would impact an expected income tax rollback this year, but Hall said he would not sign on to anything that would take away the potential rollback.
Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, said the Democrats' plan did not quite go far enough, saying in a statement, "Frankly, when the state is sitting on a $9 billion surplus, we should be doing more than handing out a one-time annual rebate check that equals 49 cents per day."
In response to the tax break plan last week, Nesbitt said he was "cautiously optimistic" for immediate inflation relief.
Democrats, who last year won a "trifecta" in holding both chambers of the legislature and the governor's office, are in power for the first time in 40 years in Michigan.
Last week, Whitmer signed the first legislation of the new term, the earliest a governor in Michigan has signed a bill since 1947. The $1.1 billion supplemental spending bill included investments into affordable housing, the state's economic growth fund (SOAR), and community revitalization.
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