(Lansing, MI – AP) – Michigan’s main funds will take in an estimated $3.5 billion more in taxes than previously forecast thanks to increased consumer spending of federal stimulus checks and other coronavirus relief funds, state officials said Friday. The surplus, spread over this fiscal year and next, will give Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Republican-controlled Legislature additional budget flexibility at a time billions more in discretionary federal COVID-19 aid is coming to the state. Economists settled on revised revenue estimates that are higher than what was forecast in January: $2 billion more this budget year and $1.5 billion more next fiscal year.
