Data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis puts Michigan’s per capita income at $61,144 in 2023, a figure that’s dead last among Great Lakes states and 40^th nationally.

That’s “the lowest we’ve ever been” – 12% below the national average, Lou Glazer, president of the think tank Michigan Future Inc., told Bridge Michigan. Glazer and University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes predicted in a report last year the state is now on track to become the third poorest in the nation by 2045 if the situation continues.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey shows inflation adjusted household income in Michigan has tanked 3% since Whitmer took office, despite a 2% increase in median earnings.

Over the last year, nearly 70,000 Michiganders lost their jobs as the state’s unemployment rate swelled to 5.5% in March, the second highest rate in the nation.

Yet on Wednesday, a seven-member state commission appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on Michiganders to give her and other top elected officials, including lawmakers, a 25% raise, the Detroit Free Press reports.

“We think it’s just and fair,” Tom Cochran, a former lawmaker and Lansing fire chief who chairs the State Officers Compensation Commission, said of the unanimous recommendation for across-the-board pay hikes. “We need to pay people … a fair wage.”

The commission “determines salaries and expense allowances of the governor, lieutenant governor, legislators, justices of the Michigan Supreme Court, attorney general, and secretary of state,” according to the commission’s website.

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“Proposed changes in SOCC determinations over salaries and expense allowances take effect only if the legislature, by concurrent resolution adopted by a majority in each house, approves them,” it reads.

Lawmakers can dial down the raises across the board, but any reductions must be for all, and salaries cannot be reduced below current levels. Any raises do not take effect until after the next general election.

None of the elected officials included in the SOCC review have received a pay raise since 2022, with the exception of a 2023 pay raise for Supreme Court justices in 2023 that increased their pay from $164,610 to $181,643, the Free Press reports.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer currently receives $159,500 annually, along with a $54,000 tax-free expense allowance, while Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist receives $111,510, with a $18,000 tax-free expense account.

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Both Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson receive $112,410 with no expense accounts. Lawmakers in both chambers of the Legislature are paid $71,685 with a $10,800 tax-free expense allowance, according to the news site.

Benson and Nessel are currently facing scrutiny from the Michigan House Oversight Committee over a variety of issues, from illegal votes cast in the 2024 election, to politically motivated lawfare, to the weaponization of government against citizens during the pandemic.

House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Twp., told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday the SOCC proposal is dead on arrival.

“We’re not going to raise our pay,” he said, “we’re not going to entertain that at all.”

Hall on Wednesday also highlighted ongoing issues with Benson’s $9 million Michigan Transparency Network, which she said last year “will make personal financial disclosure, campaign finance, lobbying and legal defense fund information publicly available in one convenient, easy-to-use we portal.”

“The Secretary of State spent $9 million on this website and its less transparent than the one before it,” he said. “It’s harder to use. Some people have to put in their contact information to get access to anything, so she’s probably tracking you, so be careful.”

“The website doesn’t work. It was a disaster,” Hall said, suggesting “Jocelyn Benson should get off the campaign trail (for governor) and fix her website. It’s a $9 million boondoggle, it doesn’t work, and I think the House Oversight Committee should investigate this.”

The bungled transparency website was unveiled just a few months after reporters leveraged the department’s prior site to expose a $82,500 donation from Benson’s Michigan Legacy PAC to Supreme Court Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, who later cast deciding votes in favor Benson in cases involving the Secretary of State.

Benson in January announced she’s running her own election to replace a term-limited Whitmer in 2026, when she will face off against Gilchrist in the Democratic primary.

Whitmer, widely viewed as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, has drawn allegations she’s prioritizing her political ambitions over her constituents with multiple book tours, international “investment missions,” and nonstop social media campaigns to raise her national profile.

Nessel, who is also term-limited, has not revealed her future political plans, opting to focus instead on her numerous legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s agenda on behalf of Michigan taxpayers.