Governor Rick Snyder is expected to sign the tax overhaul that replaces the business tax with a 6% corporate income tax on profits.
Leaders of the West Michigan Policy Forumtouted "the MBT is dead!” in an email to around 600 supporters Friday. Those supporters voted 'eliminating the business tax' as their top priority during the Policy Forum’s first conference in 2008.
Jared Rodriguez is President of the West Michigan Policy Forum. Eliminating the Michigan Business Tax is the only one of the groups top five priorities he's been able to check off his to-do list so far.
“Yes I did put a check mark next to it this morning.”
The non-profit group is a spin-off of the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce.
“We’ll continue to look at tax issues but we’ve got one thing off our list and we’ve got four other extremely difficult things to tackle yet this year.”
Rodriguez is less optimistic about their second priority – making Michigan a right to work state. Governor Rick Snyder says he will not address that issue because it’s too divisive.
The West Michigan Policy Forum is following these top five directives.
Eliminate the Michigan Business Tax with corresponding spending cuts- Implement a right-to-work status for Michigan
- Increase funding for health care providers with effective prevention practices
- Streamline the permitting process within state government
- Update funding mechanisms for transportation infrastructure
