LANSING – The Small Business Association of Michigan praised the action Wednesday by the Michigan Senate to accelerate the repeal of the Single Business Tax to 2007 from 2009 and urged the governor to sign the legislation.
?Repealing the SBT, even before a replacement system is in place, is the appropriate step to take in order to move fundamental tax reform forward,? said SBAM Vice President Government Relations Barry Cargill. ?Our overall tax structure is not conducive to revitalizing economic growth. We must develop tax alternatives with a primary goal of encouraging economic development and job growth.?
Cargill said SBAM is not pleased that the bill prohibits the Legislature from replacing the SBT with an increase in the rate or base of taxes on individuals, including the income tax, sales tax, use tax, or real estate taxes on residences.
?That?s a short-term political move that unnecessarily straight-jackets the discussion over the shape of our future tax system,? he said. ?It just reinforces the old falsehood that there are two classes of taxpayers in Michigan: businesses and consumers.
“In fact, businesses don?t pay taxes, people do,” he said. “Businesses simply collect taxes from consumers on behalf of the state, either directly in the form of sales taxes, or indirectly (in the case of taxes like the Single Business Tax, personal property taxes and income taxes) in the form of higher prices, fewer jobs, lower wages and skimpier benefits.?
