If you have ever worked in a restaurant or known somebody who has, you probably know most restaurants allow workers to have a free or reduced-cost meal during their shift.

But get this: last week the chair of the House Tax Policy committee announced that the next time the committee meets, it will consider legislation to help fill the budget gap by charging sales tax on the free meals restaurants give to their employees.

Are you kidding me? With the many problems facing our state, I can’t believe we are trying to wring 18 cents out of a kid who got a free Whopper during his shift at Burger King. This is a tax hike targeting people who work mostly for minimum wage or tips.
I guess there really is no such thing as a free lunch.

Balancing the budget is about making choices. I just don’t see how some lawmakers can justify taxing low-income workers while the state continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to subsidize Hollywood film producers.

Which brings me to my larger point. To me, it is just plain wrong to consider raising taxes when the state still hasn’t made many real reforms. For example, even though the Department of Human Services acknowledges the problem, nothing has been done to stop welfare recipients from using taxpayer money to buy alcohol, cigarettes and Lotto tickets. I’ve written about this issue before, and I keep arguing for this reform in Lansing, but so far no progress has been made.

Over the next few months you will hear a chorus of special interests loudly screaming for ever-higher taxes to support ever-higher levels of government spending. As your state representative, I am working to make sure the state doesn’t spend any more than it can afford. Michigan is taxed enough already.