Filling a $2 Billion Hole ... by Doing Nothing? Following the Facade by BuildingsOfDetroit.Com - SNWEB.ORG Michigan voters will be hearing a lot about the "job killing SBT" (Michigan Single Business Tax) in the next few months. Republicans are hoping to make political hay from their vote to repeal the tax two years early in 2007. Democrats are saying it is irresponsible to get rid of a tax that raises $1.9 billion annually (20% of the state's budget) without a replacement. Caught somewhere in the middle will be the Michigan budget. What will replace Single Business Tax? in the Kalamazoo Gazette says "This is a different kind of Legislature than the one that reformed school finance in the mid-1990s. Today's Legislature is less experienced, constrained by term limits and more driven by ideology. Term limits offer lawmakers few incentives to come up with long-term fixes." In the same article, Standard & Poors (who last week assigned a negative ratings outlook for Michigan) is quoted as saying "The repeal of the $1.9 billion tax creates a structural imbalance for fiscal 2008 that exceeds any one-year imbalance that the state has faced in the prior recession." The AP's David Eggert takes a look at how Republicans and Democrats intend to use the issue in the current campaign. In his essay Courage & the SBT, Jack Lessenberry, who says he has beaten up on the Republicans for their "let's burn the house down - we're sure to get a better one later" mentality regarding the Single Business Tax, unloads a second barrel on the Democrats who "seem to think it is enough to sit on their hands, whimper, and hope the voters turn to them when the Republicans screw up." He argues that we'll end up with an 11th hour, post-election solution unless me demand to hear plans now. Posted/updated Aug 14, 2006 by Andrew McFarlane (Absolute Michigan) click to Send This Story to a Friend! Main Michigan News Page Go Back One Page

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