LANSING – The severity of damage to Michigan’s roads from the harsh winter has reduced the urgency to pursue tax relief this year, Governor Rick Snyder said Wednesday.
Earlier this year, Snyder proposed a partial restoration of the reduction to the Homestead Property Tax Credit that started in the 2012 tax year. The change would have expanded the credit on personal income taxes to more people and saved those eligible for the credit an estimated $74.
Bills in the House and Senate that would reduce the income tax rate from its current 4.25 percent (SB 402 , HB 5265 , HB 5266 and HB 5267 ) cleared committees more than two months ago, but have yet to get traction on the floor of either chamber. For some time, there have been signals that majority Republicans in the Legislature who initially called for tax cuts have lost interest and would prefer to concentrate the state’s budget surplus on road repairs.
The sponsors of the House bills themselves have said roads should come first.
“I’ve always been open to solving the road problem and if it can be part of a solution there, I’m open to saying let’s do that instead,” Snyder said. “Hopefully we can have a good dialogue about transportation.”
The reason for the decrease in interest for tax cuts stems from the public push to do something about the state’s roads, Snyder said.
“Much of it came about because of how serious the pothole season’s been,” he said. “And I appreciate the general public speaking up more and more about they see the need to solve this problem in terms of transportation.”
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