After Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other Democrat officials touted retirement tax legislation, House Republican Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, on Tuesday issued the following statement criticizing Democrats’ income tax hike, which they had included in the same legislation and became official in the new year:

“This year, Lansing Democrats finally got the income tax hike they always wanted. Their misleading press conference doesn’t change the fact that the tax rate is going up for everyone.

“Workers and job providers are looking for relief from the high costs of living, but Democrats spent 2023 fighting tooth and nail to raise the income tax and take even more money from all of us. The governor’s attempt to pull the wool over Michiganders’ eyes won’t work. People’s taxes are going up, and Gov. Whitmer’s tax cut rhetoric can’t fool them.”

Michigan’s individual income tax rate for people and small businesses went up Monday from 4.05% to 4.25% due to maneuvering by Michigan Democrats. Although Michigan started 2023 with a $9 billion surplus, Democrats wasted the entire surplus in their $82 billion state budget last summer and then spent even more money in the fall. Without the tax hike, Democrats’ wasteful spending is projected to run a budget deficit.

Democrats had included the income tax hike plan in House Bill 4001, the tax law the governor highlighted at a press conference Tuesday.

Plaintiffs challenging the legality of the income tax hike intend to appeal their lawsuit at the Michigan Court of Appeals.