In East Lansing, voters rejected a proposal to create a new income tax on Tuesday. The income tax would have cost residents one-percent of their income, much of which was to be offset for homeowners by the passage of a property tax cut on the ballot.
Non-residents who work in East Lansing would pay an income tax of one-half of one-percent. The property tax cut passed, but the income tax failed. That means there won’t be a property tax cut unless an income tax is approved in the future.
As a result, Mayor Mark Meadows says the city council will have to cut the budget by about ten percent. "It seems clear that the public has said 'we don't want an income tax; we'd rather have you cut services within the community'," Meadows explained, "and that's what we'll have to do."
City council member Susan Woods lost her seat on Tuesday; Ruth Beier was re-elected, and 21-year-old MSU student Aaron Stephens won the other seat.
