As Michigan continues its one-state recession, the 1980s-era refrain "Will the last person leaving Michigan please turn out the lights" has some resonance. But at least the Michigan Legislature balked at an opportunity to make things worse by increasing taxes.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, proposed extending the sales tax to services. The legislature had other ideas. The plan now calls for using up to $400 million in tobacco settlement money, as well as making some budget cuts.

A Detroit News article on the subject says that the state is using gimmicks to fill some of the shortfall, including delaying some payments scheduled to go to colleges. But the next fiscal year starts in October, and another deficit looms. One thing that could help the situation is to slash ill-advised industrial planning. The Senate hoped to take $290 million from the "21st Century Jobs Fund," but relented.

Last year, Dr. Gary L. Wolfram, an adviser to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, attacked the fund as an example of "Five-year planning" that substitutes political decision-making for the freely made decisions of individuals and businesses.

The next time advocates of tax increases defend their cause with claims that spending cuts will inflict unacceptable damage on the state, remember the jobs fund.