LANSING – Calling it a good day for the state by improving its overall competitiveness, Governor Rick Snyder signed a package of 12 bills that begins the process to phase out Michigan’s personal property tax on industrial property.

At a signing ceremony in the press auditorium, surrounded by legislators, civic officials and business executives, Snyder said the package will help end the “second dumbest tax” in the state. The “dumbest tax” in the state, in fact in the nation Snyder charged, was the Michigan Business Tax that was repealed in 2011.

While the PPT bills were the focus of the ceremony, Snyder also signed legislation dealing with administrative rules and a new tax on mining. All of the legislation should help improve Michigan’s standing nationally, making it a more attractive place to do business, he said.

Signing the PPT bills ended a process that had actively involved Snyder, Lt. Governor Brian Calley and the administration for more than a year. But the arguing and efforts to find a way to either end or replace the tax have gone on for decades.

In fact, Snyder said at one point, “30 years in the making, problem solved.”

Signed were SB 1065 (PA 397), SB 1066 (PA 398), SN 1067 (PA 399), SB 1068 (PA 400), SB 1069 (PA 401), SB 1070 (PA 402), SB 1071 (PA 403), HB 6022 (PA 404), HB 6023 (PA 405), HB 6024 (PA 406), HB 6025 (PA 407) and HB 6026 (PA 408).

The bills phase out the tax on industrial personal property over the next 10 years. The package also includes an exemption for taxpayers with small amounts of property tax to pay.

The tax has been controversial because virtually all of the revenues it raises go to local governments.

But Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly said the tax is hated by local governments too, because it has proven so difficult and expensive to administer.

The package is intended to reimburse up to 80 percent of the tax local governments received (critics contended it will raise much less). Schools are exempted from the limitation and the package allows local governments to have a special assessment to recapture revenues for police, fire and jail services.

Implementing the change, however, will require the public to support changes to the use tax. An election on those changes will be held in 2014, and Snyder said if the vote fails, then he and the Legislature will have to revisit the issue of the tax.

But Mr. Snyder said changing the tax will have no effect on the public so he saw no reason why they should oppose the changes.

The mining taxes bills, HB 6007 (PA 409), HB 6008 (PA 410), HB 6009 (PA 411), HB 6010 (PA 412), HB 6011 (PA 413) and HB 6012 (PA 414), convert the current system of taxing non-ferrous minerals from property taxes, corporate income taxes, sales and use taxes to a 2.75 percent severance tax on the gross value of the minerals.

The tax should provide more consistency and certainty for mining companies and should help attract them to the state, supporters of the change have said.

Finally, Snyder signed SB 1335 (PA 415) and HB 5922 (PA 416) to update the state’s worker safety standards. First, the measures specify that state rules can only be stricter than federal rules when there are unique situations to the state, and set guidelines for finding those situations. The bills also eliminate the General Industry Safety Standards Commission. Bills to eliminate the other two commissions (HB 5917 and SB 1336 ) are still awaiting signature.

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