Lansing (January 17, 2016) – Michigan’s leading advocate for small business today reacted to Governor Rick Snyder’s seventh State of the State Address this evening.
“First and foremost, we would like to thank the Governor for his leadership in bringing Michigan back from the brink of despair and making our state a great place to bring a business, grow a business or start a new business,” said Charlie Owens, Michigan State Director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). “We hope that this upcoming legislative session will build on those accomplishments.”
Owens said that priority one for small business is to continue to work on Michigan’s overall economy and avoid the temptations to drift back toward targeted tax policy that seeks to reward specific companies or industries at expense of others. “We have seen the damage that this kind of policy has done to our budgets in the last few years when the bill has come due for the bad targeted tax policy of the previous administration,” said Owens.
Suggestions of expanding the sales tax to services is another concern voiced by Owens. While the Governor did not mention this in his address, the subject was brought up during the recent Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference. “This is the kind of tax policy that could undo the hard work it has taken to make Michigan a success story and it should be avoided,” said Owens.
Owens was pleased that the Governor gave a shout out to many of the small businesses creating jobs in Michigan including the Agriculture sector. “Most farms are also small family owned businesses risking their capital to create jobs and opportunity,” said Owens. “When you consider that many small businesses pay their business taxes through their personal income tax, small businesses are actually paying the lion’s share of business taxes in the state.” Owens noted that this is the case because of tax credits being claimed against the Corporate Income Tax for the previously mentioned targeted tax policy, while small business does not claim such credits when paying via the personal income tax.
“We look forward to working with the Governor and the legislature to “get this done” in making Michigan the best state in the nation for small business,” said Owens
More of the NFIB Michigan Small Business Agenda items can be found at:
