 a 01 tax break is still a tax break a republican plan in the michigan house may lower our taxes by a small amount under the plan the personal income tax rate would decrease from the current 435 percent to 425 percent effective oct 1 that is three months ahead of the scheduled rollback now called for in state law and would result in relatively small savings for taxpayers particularly those of middle or low income but i believe relatively small still means paying less than we are now right though warren buffet may like paying more in taxes i don t so a 01 decrease in my tax rate is better than a 01 increase let s compare the attitudes of the republicans and the democrats in the michigan house on this issue first the republicans every dollar state government has is a dollar earned by a hardworking michigan taxpayer rdquo house speaker jase bolger rmarshall said in a statement ldquo we have a responsibility to spend taxpayer money wisely and return any additional money rather than finding new ways to spend it rdquo now the democrats the republicans proved they still can t relate to the average michigan middleclass family by offering a tiny tax cut that wouldn t help an individual let alone a family said rep richard hammel the leader of the house democrats so a little extra money isn t going to help an individual or family i d be happy in my representative walked up to me and handed me a 5 it wouldn t make a big difference in my life but every little bit helps if i can keep a tenth of a percent of my income and stop it from going into yet another wasteful government program so much the better if the new rule saves me 50 or whatever it will save me that s 50 i can use for a dinner at red cedar grill and not sent to the michigan department of bureaucracy for bureaucratic matter  