Governor Rick Snyder is firing back against critics of his so-called “pension tax”.
As the Michigan Public Radio Network’s Jake Neher reports, Snyder spent part of his special address on aging Monday defending the decision.
In 2011, Snyder signed legislation that ended the practice of exempting pensions from state income tax. He says it wasn’t fair to tax pensions and other types of income differently. Instead, the tax changes allowed seniors making less than 40 thousand dollars a year to avoid paying income tax altogether. That’s whether they have a pension, a 401(k)-type plan, or if they’re still working.
“That’s much fairer, because if someone has income – whether it’s from working or from a retirement income – they’re all treated the same, then,” he says. “And isn’t that how the system should work?”
But Democrats say many seniors are still losing thousands of dollars a year because of that decision.