Posted: 1 p.m. Nov. 11, 2009
WITH PDF OF STUDY

Study: Michigan crumbles under outdated tax system

By CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF
Comments 88
Recommend 9

California’s state finances are awful, but Michigan is among nine other states that aren’t far behind the Golden State in economic trauma, according to a new study.

The shock waves of the domestic auto industry’s decline, home foreclosures and persistent state deficits could last for decades, according to the Pew Center on the States. http://tinyurl.com/yahlxu5

The report quoted Donald Grimes, a University of Michigan senior research specialist, saying he expects new data this year will show Michigan is among the nation’s 10 poorest states.

If Michigan’s economy suddenly grew at the rate it did during the prosperous 1990s, it would be 2025 or 2030 before it recovered all the jobs it’s lost in the past decade, said Susan Urahn, managing director for the Pew Center on the States.

“Michigan is essentially adjusting to a new normal, where the state may just have to deal with a permanent set of pared-back services,â€