(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/21/2024) Remember Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s $5,000 caregiver tax credit idea she brought up in her State of the State address and during her budget presentation?
The House and Senate either did when they rolled out their spending plan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, or they decided it wasn’t worth putting in.
Either way, the Whitmer administration is bringing it back just in time for budget negotiation season with Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II singing its praises with AARP Michigan State Director Paula Cunningham, volunteer Frank Weathers and a dozen or so other AARP members.
“Everybody is going to need a caregiver at some point,” said Gilchrist, quoting former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. “Yet it’s invisible in the sense that the work is almost always uncompensated.”
The L.G. shared how his grandfather lived with his parents for the last five or six years of his life. His great-aunt also lives in her own home in Detroit and needs assistance. His parents help her with daily tasks.
“Every family has a story,” he said. “And if this is something that is impacting every family in Michigan, the government needs to respond.”
According to Cunningham, Michigan has 1.73 million caregivers who provide $19.6 billion in uncompensated care to loved ones.
Some may argue that it’s a family’s responsibility to take care of a loved one. To that, Cunningham said the state of Michigan could keep three people in their home for the cost of putting one person in a nursing home.
A final statistic she shared is that 89% to 93% of people want to age in their own home.
If one does the math, 1.73 million caregivers multiplied by a $5,000 tax credit equals a $8.65 billion cost burden on the state, which is a little less than 10% of the state’s entire $80.6 billion state budget.
Asked about the Legislature’s reluctance to tackle this issue in their budgets, Gilchrist said: “There are so many things that are going to come together now at the end of this budget negotiation process and we want to make sure this is one of them.”
