Michigan democrats unveil plan to finance free college tuition eliminating corporate tax credits

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http://www.nationofchange.org/michigan-democrats-unveil-plan-finance-free-college-tuition-eliminating-corporate-tax-credits-132690

Michi­gan Gov. Rick Sny­der (R) spent his first year in of­fice trad­ing in the wel­fare of thou­sands of vul­ner­a­ble Michi­gan­ders in order to cut taxes for cor­po­ra­tions and the wealthy. Hop­ing to re­fo­cus pri­or­i­ties in 2012, the state’s Sen­ate De­moc­rats have re­leased a new plan that puts Michi­gan stu­dents ahead of wealthy cor­po­ra­tions.

Under the Michi­gan 2020 Plan, Michi­gan’s high school grad­u­ates will be el­i­gi­ble for free tu­ition at one of Michi­gan’s com­mu­nity col­leges or uni­ver­si­ties, where the me­dian tu­ition level is cur­rently around $9,575 per year. The pro­gram will be funded en­tirely by elim­i­nat­ing $3.5 bil­lion in tax cred­its and loop­holes and putting that money to­wards stu­dents:

“Study after study after study has em­pha­sized the im­por­tance of a highly ed­u­cated work­force in the eco­nomic vi­tal­ity of any state in the 21st cen­tury,” said Sen­ate De­mo­c­ra­tic leader Gretchen Whit­mer, D-East Lans­ing.

Michi­gan cur­rently pays out roughly $34 bil­lion in tax cred­its. Under the Michi­gan 2020 Plan re­cently un­veiled, $3.5 bil­lion in tax cred­its and loop­holes would be elim­i­nated. De­moc­rats put the tu­ition pro­posal’s cost at least at $1.8 bil­lion. [...]

Under the plan, grad­u­ates who spent their en­tire K-12 years in Michi­gan schools would be el­i­gi­ble for the full award, which equates to the me­dian tu­ition level of all pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties — cur­rently $9,575 per year. Those who at­tended school for awhile out­side the state would get a per­cent­age of that amount.'