Question 1): Rep. Matt HALL (R-Richland Township), Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, has vowed to push some form of property tax relief in the Legislature this year, almost certainly involving at least one statewide ballot proposal next Nov. 3. What are his chances of success?
Answer 1): It’s a longshot as a matter of policy, although it’s conceivable that, if used adroitly by Republicans, the issue could become a weapon in the general election battle for control of the state House even if it never gets on the ballot. Many compare the current scenario to 1994 and voter approval of the game-changing Proposal A, but many forget, or don’t understand now, that Proposal A was unique. The property tax for K-12 school operations had been abolished by the Legislature months earlier; consequently, some other revenue stream had to be found. Today, there may be some angst about property taxes creeping up again, but the climate is nowhere near what it was like in the Seventies, Eighties, and early Nineties. Back then, there had been decades of outrage, debate, many ballot proposals, and legislative action and inaction that had failed to solve the disparity in funding between rich and poor K-12 school districts. The root of the problem was that Michigan was one of the highest property tax states in the country and one of the lowest in the sales tax. In income taxes, we were about in the middle of all the states. Passage of Proposal A meant that we would be about in the middle of all three tax categories nationally; the voters preferred a hike in the sales tax to an increased income tax and, accordingly, voted “Yes” on A.
Today, there is little evidence that property tax relief is a high priority for legislative Democrats, so Hall will have a tough time marshalling the 2/3 supermajority in the House, let alone the Senate, that would be needed to put something on the ballot if it includes asking the voters to approve a replacement revenue source as opposed to a tax cut. A dollar-for-dollar replacement would be needed, however, to make local governments whole from losing their property tax revenue.
Debate has yet to begin on this potentially combustible issue, but if it does it’s unlikely to go anywhere. Months from now, it’s probable it will be largely forgotten as an issue.
Still, Hall may be calculating that, even if he can’t gain success in the Legislature with a ballot proposal, he’ll be able to do some damage to Democrats in competitive districts who try to stop him. He thinks he’ll get a political advantage whether he wins or loses with Democratic lawmakers. If they vote no, he and his GOP cohorts will use those votes against all those Democrats when they are trying to run for re-election in the House or Senate.
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Question 2): Last Feb. 16 (2025) TBR asked and answered the question: “Will the United States try to annex Greenland?” TBR wrote parenthetically that “This Trump proposal won’t happen, although there could be some significant military strategic changes forthcoming in Greenland and Panama … Remember, Trump’s stock-in-trade is ‘deal-making,’ which he thinks works for him. This proposal is really just the start of ‘negotiations,’ and we’ll find out where they lead.” So, where do things stand now?
Answer 2): After nearly a year, such negotiations haven’t seemed to lead anywhere. Now, however, in the wake of the U.S. capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, there is renewed scrutiny of Trump’s intentions in Greenland, especially because he keeps talking about it. It goes without saying that the optics of a military takeover would be atrocious, and the worldwide ripple effect of such a venture would likely be catastrophic strategically, involving U.S. allies and enemies alike. If Greenland should become a U.S. territory by whatever means, it would likely be constitutionally similar to Puerto Rico but politically weaker, culturally more alienated, more militarized, and less self-governing than it is today.
Greenland is at present an autonomous territory, largely self-governing, that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenland is not part of the European Union, although Demark is. Greenland has the legal authority to declare itself independent at any time.
Greenlanders themselves are trending not toward a change in allegiance toward a different sovereign but toward independence. That is the core reason Greenlanders strongly oppose any idea of a U.S. takeover.
It’s true that Denmark’s hold on Greenland seems like an anomaly in the 21st century. Denmark shed itself of Iceland in 1944. No other Scandinavian country has any colonies or self-governing entities. Finland has never had any, and any that Sweden or Norway once had they gave up long ago. In fact, Denmark sold its stake in the Caribbean to the U.S. in 1917 for $25 million in gold coin (some $620 million today); that’s how we acquired the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St. Johns, and St. Croix, plus Water Island, also in 1944). The reason we wanted those islands? For security reasons during World War I. Sound familiar?
How about another sale? Maybe the U.S. could make Denmark a (financial) offer it couldn’t refuse. That would be a lot better than the “hard way.”
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Much like his entire governance, if Trump just kept his mouth shut and expressed his willingness and desire to make a user friendly deal with Greenland, this issue would slip away. He is the one who should be governing from his basement, both out of sight and out of mind……
Annexing Greenland is nonsense.
Greenland is currently NOT a Danish colony but legally part of Denmark under a relationship that has developed over 1,000 years between Denmark’s constitutional monarchy and Greenland inhabitants. Greenlanders enjoy internal autonomy and fall within a protective network of Danish national federalism that protects them with a national defense and provides financial assistance that they rely upon.
It is akin to America’s longstanding “commonwealth” relationship with the denizens of Puerto Rico. To sever it would be economically painful.
Greenlanders can vote via referendum for independence but value their Danish relationship. America’s best interests in seeking national sovereignty over Greenland is ZERO.
President Trump is right-on and our national security DEPENDS on Greenland.
Matt Hall’s initiative on property tax relief is for public consumption – as the AxMITax movement appears to be petering out and the MIGOP leaders need a tax policy to rally around.
Some points on Greenland:
(A) it has the highest suicide rate in the world;
(B) Danish physicians during the 1960s and 70s implemented a program of nonconsensual IUD implantation of native Inuit women and girls – this birth control practice continued on a diminished scale into the 1990s and was the later subject of an investigation by the Danish Health Ministry;
(C) Greenland is heavily dependent on financial assistance from the Danish government and there is little opportunity to extract natural resources from the island due to a vocal environmentalist community and severe weather conditions;
(D) America already has its interests in the region protected by NATO and has had a armed forces presence there for decades – despite the fact the U.S. Air Force once lost a hydrogen bomb and had a contaminating nuclear accident there during the 1960s in the same incident.
America should be happy with their current relationship to Greenland. It remains one of the last vestiges of the vast network of European colonialism that largely disappeared following WW2.
Ahem, NATO can’t protect Ukraine on their doorstep. Even with equal share payments and the addition of the Scandinavian contingent. Expecting NATO, or Denmark itself for that matter, to protect against Russian and Chinese encroachment and infiltration into Greenland is tantamount to protecting one’s house with a screened-in front and back door.
The U.S. Defense Department already has 150 servicemen at the old Thule Air Base – now known as Pituffik Space Base.
There is simply no need for any further defense presence by America in the region.
Bill, Happy New Year. Nice to see you are back at your typical light speed pace. Great topics.
Wrt Q#1: Why does Ohio have less than half the sales tax that Michigan does and ten times better roads (except for rail crossings which are terrible)? General answer . . . they are not-so-arguably governed better. You say, “A dollar-for-dollar replacement [revenue source] would be needed, . . .”. Why? Just to get a 2/3 supermajority? Why not simply adjust the tax ratios and special assessments one by one till they come in line with Ohio, or almost any other of our closest neighbors, minus Illinois and Minnesota of course?
Of course, perhaps our “rich” [sic] inhabitants like what is happening to them. Step by step, year after year, we back up and retreat from the prosperity of our Midwest neighbors. Continually comparing ourselves with the Peoples Republic of Canada isn’t going to cut it much longer. But, as I say, the people will undoubtedly get what the people want . . . just as soon as they figure out what they want.
Wrt Q#2: Bill, how about this for a solution . . . Greenland has an indigenous population somewhere short of 60,000 inhabitant’s epi-entered in the extreme southwest of the island. So, let’s settle with them, not with $$, but with acreage. Let’s give each inhabitant 40 acres and a mule equivalent (say a car or 2 snow mobiles based on their preference). That’s about 3,750 square miles or ~4% the size of Michigan. With that enclave they can then seek independence, Danish partnership or any other sovereignty protection agreement they desire.
That would allow us to put up a chain link fence around their little towns and municipalities and utilize the remainder. We can then lease it for 99 years with the lease payments being put towards an intended purchase at the completion of the lease.
The US effectively administered both Greenland and Iceland during WWII which seems to be getting left out of any discussion on this subject. Of course, Denmark wasn’t much of an ally either during this time, being occupied by Germany such as it was. Seems Denmark could show some gratitude for giving them back their country in the first place such as it is. Well, that goes for all of western Europe such as it is.
Ohio’s sales tax is 5.75% and locals can add on to that rate.
Michigan’s rate is 6%, and no local sales tax.
So, “does Ohio have less than half the sales tax that Michigan” — No.
As a point of comparison, Cuyahoga County imposes a 2.25% local sales tax – so the effective rate is 8% if you are a consumer in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
Sorry, I got my info at the wrong point in time. But they still have a lot better roads (hint: they have a better road fund of which the recent agreement between Whitmer and Hall sets us up to emulate if they would fund it correctly) and better government leadership. Why do they send so many on to the presidency?
“Why does Ohio have less than half the sales tax that Michigan does and ten times better roads (except for rail crossings which are terrible)?”
ODoT have gone to great lengths to eliminate Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) in their cementitious concrete pavements and constructions. The stellar DEI hires at MDoT and their intellectual masters in MITA have not.
We actually annexed Greenland in 1951. Read the 1951 Defense of Greenland Treaty (2 UST 1485; TIAS 2292; 94 UNTS 35, Series 1305), signed by duly authorized representatives of the Government of the United States of America (Eugene Anderson) and the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark.(Ole Bjørn Kraft) in Copenhagen on 27 April 1951.
It was ratified by the Danish Parliament and entered into force on June 8, 1951. It will remain in effect as long as NATO exists.
If it was truly annexed , Trump would have shut his mouth on the subject by now.
Trump has a wicked sense of humor. He is taking great pleasure in watching the NATO ninnies who affronted him during his first term wet their pants. They have never apologized for crassly insulting Trump’s warnings about the total absence of preparedness in NATO. Had they listened to Trump, a million Ukrainians would still be alive today.
Read the treaty.
Defense Secretary (General of the Army) George C. Marshall demanded it from Denmark as a condition for Marshall Plan aid. SoS Acheson delivered it after much caterwauling from the Danes. Trump and Rubio obviously rediscovered it well before they embarked on their Greenland shtik.
First of all, Happy New Year to all the TBR family. May 2026 be better for you than 2025.
Nice article, Bill.
Speaker Hall’s property tax thingy is a fraud. He is simply wasting our time.
To keep revenues the same so schools, counties and municipalities can survive will require huge hikes in either the income tax or sales tax. Income taxes impact the folks with the most money while sales taxes – like consumption taxes in generals – go after those with the least. He won’t raise the income tax and if he hikes the sales tax, any pretense of being a “populist” or anyone who cares about the workers is a flaming joke.
Speaker Hall misdiagnoses the problem. Property taxes are NOT keeping people from buying houses, housing PRICES are doing that. Property taxes are the CONSEQUENCE of high prices, not the CAUSE of high housing prices. Some of the high cost is the result of municipal activity to limit housing, whether by elected officials or current residents, especially starter homes as they fear these will negatively impact the appearance of the community. If Hall is serious about housing prices, it will require him to go after the private equity, hedge funds and banks that have bought up housing just to rent them, turning us from an ownership society to renter society. As for going after these titans of capital, I am not holding my breath on Speaker Hall going after the hedge funds and the like. I encourage folks to read Prof. Joel Kotkin’s “THE COMING OF NEO-FEUDALISM, A WARNING TO THE GLOBAL MIDDLE CLASS”. It’s a short read – 274 pages – the last 100 being notes to the first 174.
As for Greenland, I have commented on this subject in your earlier post referenced in this article. On many subjects, it would behoove the President to be quiet and have others worry about what he is thinking. They would be more frightened and he might get more of what he wants.
The US has been interested in Greenland since the Johnson Administration, the ANDREW JOHNSON administration. Afterwards, the Danish government gave Britain the right of first refusal is they sold Greenland. Harry Truman actually offered them cash money for it, but they declined. Some of this is Trump’s bluster. He is more than a wee bit P.O.ed at Europe (and Canada) not being serious about defense. Trump believes there is global warming; the Northwest Passage is a real thing; Denmark could not defend it to save their lives or their souls. If China gets a foothold through belt and road or other means, and Greenland is left undefended, it will enhance the threats that Russia and China can impose on us politically, economically and militarily. Trump’s approach is if they won’t defend, we will have to, but if we have to, it should be ours. As for Greenland as a place, Leanne is right. Denmark’s treatment of Greenland has been harsh and horrible. Trump is offering a chance at being a US territory (there’s too few people in Greenland to qualify as a state) and with it, US citizenship, and most likely better treatment. He sees a “win-win” situation for all of us. Denmark and the rest of NATO see it as one more example of their impotence and lack of importance. As for what will happen, film at 11.
I agree with Leanne on the futile, saber/rattling talk of taking over Greenland.
Matt Hall has hit another populist idea. SENIORS are tired of our very high real property taxes. Anything that can be done to reduce same would be greatly appreciated by our ever aging population in Michigan.
Property taxes are not that significant problem, at least for this retiree. They only rise significantly in Michigan if you move and buy a new house as the property tax is based on the sale price. If you stay in the old house, the tax is based on whatever you bought it for, or if you owned it prior to Proposal “A”, what your taxes were then. Prop A was designed to limit the annual hike in property taxes. It has succeeded. If you bounce around from house to house buying as you go, yes, your property taxes will go up, but that is your choice. One of the unstated outcomes of Prop A was to encourage one to stay in one’s neighborhood. Know your neighbors, build a community, watch out for one another’s kids. Like it used to be.
The problem is that Hall is confusing cause and effect. He has no idea how to make it revenue neutral. It’s just a lot of hot air, and he is hoping that people will confuse activity (verbal in this instance) for accomplishment. If he wants to increase home ownership, there are a few things the state House can do.
Legislation that permits HOAs can be amended so that no HOA can have more than say 15% rental properties. If the number is higher than that in a particular HOA when the bill is signed into law, any rental unit that is sold must be sold to someone who will live there and not rent it out. It is a small bit to limit the damage done by the Titans of Capital who have bought up bunches of houses and rent them out.
He can help pass legislation that will bring in high wage jobs. America will need plumbers, carpenters, electricians and a whole lot of skilled tradesmen. He needs to work with the skilled trades to encourage apprenticeships and the like. Yes, it means working with the unions he despises, but if he wants to bring high wage jobs back and the industrial jobs that will have to come here as China collapses, this is the place to start.
If he truly thinks that data centers and these AI places are the key to economic boom times, he can chip in there as well. Consumers Energy has a coal plant in Port Sheldon (west of Grand Rapids, between Holland and Grand Haven, just a bit south of the Pigeon River and east of Lake Michigan). That plant powered cities and factories. It should be able to handle data centers. It has land and water. There are means for the plant and the data centers and AI spots to significantly limit the amount of water evaporation so the water can be returned here instead of evaporating away. The deal is, you want the power and water, then use the technologies that help recapture the evaporated water. If he wants to be nice to Benton Harbor, they can build some data center and AI stuff there (God knows they need the tax base) and run the power through wires. It will certainly be better for Michigan than the fraudulent property tax thing he is raising. But I am not holding my breath.
Michigan AG Dana Nessel sued DoE to force the shutdown of he J.H. Campbell thermal power plant in Port Sheldon Township in June 2025. In November, most of the Michigan House’s Democratic members signed a resolution urging U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright to stop issuing operating extensions for the J.H. Campbell TPP
The Democrats are deliberately attempting to increase electrical power costs in Michigan. The funny part is that DoE is actually extending Campbell because it is necessary to backfill all the power that is being wheeled into PJM Interconnection, NY ISO, and ISO NE. Democrats in those ISOs have committed electrical energy suicide and expect us in MISO to bail them out.
So power from J.H. Campbell really isn’t really available to drive data centers or chip fabs.
Tom Leonard has just released a fairly smart set of proposals to bring Michigan electrical energy cost increases under control, but he is being ignored in the media. The solution will require DoE to thrash the Democratic clowns in PJM Interconnection, NY ISO, and ISO NE. Then we can figure out how much energy Michigan can actually afford to give to data centers.
Interesting. I haven’t heard anything on the outcome of the case. Is it a federal or state court case? And which judge has it?
I’m not sure what Nessel would sue over unless she is allergic to coal. She’s going to get her head handed to her (judicially) is she continues with the Enbridge Line 5 stuff.
Maybe Charlie LeDuff can do another No BS Newshour thing on Dana.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
Petitioner,
v.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, and CHRIS WRIGHT, Secretary, NITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Respondents.
__________________________
re: DOE Order No. 202-25-3
__________________________
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
Nessel press release of July 25th was titled:
‘Attorney General Nessel Files Appeal Challenging DOE Order Mandating Continued Operation of Consumers Energy Coal-Powered Electric Plant’
Posted by her flack Danny Wimmer
The status of AG Nessel’s suit is confusing because a bunch of environmental wackos piled on. Multiple suits may have been consolidated in October, or the October consolidation could be a Nessel suit against DoE on another matter.
The best reference page found is The State Power Project’s, titled:
‘Challenges to DOE 202(c) Orders’
10x25mm says
(Edit)The PJM Interconnection power shortfall has become so acute that the Trump Administration will order the ISO to hold an emergency power auction among data center operators. The order is expected later today and will be supported by the Governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The data center operators will be required to pay for the construction of new power generation and infrastructure over the next 15 years.
No Obama judge will stop this proposal because PJM is the ISO for Washington, DC and the kritarchy will not be able to maintain their chokehold over the U.S. government in the dark. This probably also explains why AG Nessel’s impolitic lawsuit to force the J.H. Campbell TPP closure has been sidelined into legal oblivion.
Now that I am retired, I feel compelled to let you all in on a dirty little secret.
I have worked over a decade each for Michigan’s largest defense prime contractor and 2 of the big 3 car companies. These 3 companies constitute 3 of the top 4 employers for engineers in Michigan, which are considered high paying jobs. At each company, affirmative action and DEI rules are implemented which means there have to be at least as many non-white or Visa employees as white or native-born employees. The way each company skirts the rules, they consider the quality/reliability/durability (the -ilities) functions as “engineering” for functional roles (why not, they are populated by people with engineering degrees) although when considered for upper management, are only rarely considered. The design engineering functions are heavily weighted with white/native born. The -ilities are heavily weighted with non-white/Visa employees to compensate. It is the same throughout most industry.
Next, I am sure you have heard of stories of native-born employees required to train foreign born employees for their jobs just prior to being laid off? I am a poster child of such tactics. I’ve had to do so at all 3 of my “career” locations. At GM I was officially designated a displaced employee (thanks to the union winning a court order which also covered engineering level employees) and was given 3 extra months of unemployment and a free education chit, whoopty-do!, although at the ripe age of 57, I wasn’t in a position to complete my MBA or technical masters before my need for new employment ensued.
Lastly, asking to be paid for overtime we perform is the quickest way to be put onto the next layoff list. For my whole career my typical workweek averaged well over 60 hours (just ask my family) but I never got paid for any over 40 but for about a week’s worth total in 45+ years.
So, what is my point? Certainly not sympathy. There are many stories still going on that dwarf mine. And I got paid for all I fought for. Made a career I am proud of out of it.
But Michigan and the rest of industry throughout America does not lack high paying jobs. But we will never see them till a seismic sea change occurs like breaking the DEI/affirmative-action cabal. Ever hear the stories of how many hours Elon Musk’s employees put in? Makes me look like a piker.
We already have the total cooperation of Greenland with respect to defense. We have multiple military bases there and the status quo is, or was, quite favorable to our interests. If we want their natural resources, ll we have to do is buy them. But, Trump starts a “negotiation” by insulting people living in Greenland, Denmark, and all of Nato by threatening them. The reaction is totally predictable, the existing willingness to cooperate with the US is jeopardized, as is the cooperation of all of the many NATO countries. It is hard to believe he is that incompetent, which would leave the implication that he is intentionally sabatoging the interests of the US.
I am so old I can remember the Russians taking Crimea from the Ukrainians in 2014 without firing a shot. The Ukrainians are a much tougher and smarter bunch than the Danes.
The Russians are deadly serious about the Northern Sea Route. They have nine commissioned heavy nuclear icebreakers in service, plus many more smaller fossil fueled icebreakers they use on their great rivers. Three more nuclear icebreaker keels laid. We have none. We do have one sort of heavy icebreaker, the 50 year old Polar Star, which does work occasionally. We plan to build 11 new, medium Arctic Security Cutters, but these toys are 1/7th of the size of the Russian behemoths. We might get one in 2028.
Trump 45 planned to build 3 heavy, fossil fueled, Polar Security Cutters, but the plan collapsed into disorder during Droolin’ Joe’s Administration. Funding Quality Learing Centers and promoting transgenderism were their priorities. The current Trump Administration just signed an agreement with Seaspan Shipyards in Canada to design three Polar Security Cutters, but they are far, far in the future.
The costs of all these Biden wrecked programs have become so great that the Great Lakes icebreaker (GLIB) program which was to be based in Michigan had to be cancelled. We would probably be better served to buy heavy icebreakers from the acknowledged experts, the Russians, but good luck with that.
Those “multiple military bases” we have in Greenland? They are staffed by 150 American personnel, most of whom are airbase operations or Space Force types at Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule AFB). The Danes have a grand total of 200 troops in all of Greenland. How long do you think they would last against a winter assault of combat hardened Russian muzhiks delivered and supplied by ships cleared through the arctic ice by nuclear ice breakers? We would have to fly everything in and a lot of our stuff doesn’t work in the arctic winter anyway.
This is why Trump wants a real presence in Greenland.
Exactly. Plus the possibility of oil and minerals underground there (consider Alaska) and the predictably that Russia and China would find that compelling. And that would also bring them too close to us.
Any mineral deposits are exceedingly hard to access – Russians have the sae problem in Siberia.
Wow.
Polar warfare is rare. The Japanese invaded Attu Island in Alaska in 1942 and thousands died.
Will the Danish and Americans fight a bloody battle for control of the island? What will NATO do?
All sounds like a bunch of nonsense.
10x25mm says
(Edit)Read the Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste (Danish Defence Intelligence Service) ‘INTELLIGENCE OUTLOOK 2025’ report. It has been available in the English language on their web site in pdf format since December. Start at page 30, “The Arctic”..
It is not surprising that Danish politicians are lying about the Russian and Chinese threats to Greenland. It is what they do. It is actually surprising that they allowed FE to actually publish the truth.
When you have nuclear icebreakers and submarines, you can indeed fight successfully in the arctic.
The Michigan Consensus Revenue Agreement Executive Summary presented yesterday finds FY 2026 General Fund revenue will be lower by $ 980.5 million than was anticipated in the May 2025 forecast. FY2027 will be worse, over $ 1.1 billion down from previous estimates. The money shot is Table 2, at the top of the third page, in the summary issued by Gov. Whitmer’s office. The proximate cause is expected declines in income tax revenue in our roaring economy.
There will be a lot wrangling in Lansing during the coming days as a result. Eliminating or reducing property taxes is probably off the table, but you never know. That wrangling will undoubtedly begin well before Gov. Whitmer’s February 25th State of the State speech:
An example of the strategic importance of Greenland is unfolding in Europe today. A massive winter storm which the Russians call “The Beast From The East” has settled over Europe and driven their natural gas consumption through the roof. The Europeans burned 17% of their natural gas reserves during the first 14 days of January.
The Europeans now have all 14 ice-class LNG tankers under contract and delivering replenishment. They are threading their way to Europe from the Yamal Peninsula behind no less than 4 nuclear ice breakers.
Now imagine this same scenario with malevolent Russians in firm control of Greenland. The price of natural gas in Europe would explode far beyond the the current Dutch TTF exchange price of $ 420 per thousand cubic meters ($ 12 per cubic foot).
10x25mm says
(Edit)…($12 per thousand cubic feet).