LANSING – State Representative Gino H. Polidori (D-Dearborn) today praised Governor Jennifer M. Granholm's pro-business, pro-growth plan to replace Michigan's Single Business Tax (SBT) with the Michigan Business Tax (MBT), which rewards companies by eliminating taxes on payroll, benefits and health care. The MBT will reduce taxes for 77 percent of the state's businesses, slash personal property taxes by 46 percent, and protect $600 million in tax cuts already signed into law.
"This is a creative tax plan that will benefit businesses and attract jobs to our state," Polidori said. "The Michigan Business Tax offers some of the lowest tax rates in the country and that's the kind of plan we need to help strengthen our economy."
The MBT, which rewards more companies than any other SBT replacement plan offered by other groups including the Detroit Chamber of Commerce and the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, will:
- Create a broad base with tax rates among the lowest in the nation, and well below the current SBT rate.
- Cut the personal property tax for industrial and commercial businesses by 46 percent.
- Reward companies that offer good-paying jobs by eliminating taxes on payroll, benefits and health care.
- Give high-tech companies that specialize in cutting-edge fields such as life sciences and advanced manufacturing a $125 million tax cut, create a new MEGA credit to encourage research and development, and continue MEGA credits for high-tech jobs.
- Give small businesses a boost by exempting businesses with less than $350,000 in gross receipts from taxation.
"This tax plan will protect the revenue for vital such as our schools, health care and public safety," Polidori said. "The SBT is set to expire in 2007 and that means we have to act now to take advantage of this great plan."