Battle Creek Times

The fiscal policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy believes Michigan law mangers need to be "more transparent" when it comes to distributing taxpayer dollars to "select businesses."

James Hohman said there's "much room for improvement" when it comes to that sort of information released by the state. 

"The state offers money to select businesses in an effort to create jobs," Hohman wrote in a blog for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "while these business subsidy programs are ineffective at their declared task, unfair to companies that don't get them and expensive to the taxpayer, lawmakers feel the need to keep them around." 

He said the state is "pretty good" at informing the public what companies had been offered since those details are published in an annual report. Hohman believes lawmakers can do a better job at letting folks know who will get help from the state before a deal is finalized.  He said that would give those opposed to a proposed deal an opportunity to voice their concerns. 

He also opposes a 2009 seal on information pertaining to the use of tax credits, which used to be available to the public. He'd like to see that happen again, since taxpayers "deserve to know where their money is going."

He wants more accountability and transparency when it comes to companies who don't stick to what they've promised. 

"When deals go wrong, the money the state pledged for the deal ought to go back to lawmakers to re-budget, instead of being funneled back to administrators, who can use it to issue more deals," he wrote in a blog for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

He said these changes have support from both sides of he aisle in the state legislature and are included in a "package of bills" tasked with enhancing state economic development programs transparency and accountability. Although they may not get a vote on them this year, he things it's "worth considering" in the 2021 legislative session.