Editorial Roundup: Michigan

Detroit News. September 2, 2023.

Editorial: Leave mandate will send businesses packing

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appears to have decided the best way to grow Michigans population is to turn it into her version of a workers paradise.

Policies pursued this year by the governor and her new Democratic-majority Legislature are largely being dictated by labor unions and tilt the balance of the workplace relationship distinctly to the advantage of employees.

Even if the strategy works and new residents come flocking here to take advantage of a host of new state-mandated benefits, it raises a key question: Where will they work?

A well-tested truth is that raising the cost of doing business in a state lowers the number of jobs businesses create.

The governors latest proposal, universal paid family leave, is designed to raise business costs. While the details are still sketchy the least transparent governor in recent memory once again left her Wednesday address without taking questions the program apparently will be supported by a payroll tax, similar to the levy that funds unemployment benefits. The Michigan Chamber pegged the cost at $1 billion.