Michigan House Panel Approves Income Tax Cut
LANSING (WWJ/AP) - A committee in the Michigan Legislature has voted to cut the state income tax rate from 4.25 percent to 4.05 percent by 2016.
Bills approved 12-2 Wednesday by the House Tax Policy Committee would lower the income tax another tenth of a percentage point in future years if tax revenue increases by a minimum amount. The bills now move to the House floor.
Legislators and the governor want to provide election-year tax relief with part of a budget surplus, but there's no consensus yet on what form it should take.
"The House Tax Policy Committee approved the bills over the objections of the governor, who wants to roll back some of the property taxes," said WWJ Lansing Bureau Chief Tim Skubick. "The committee voted basically on a partisan basis with Republicans for, Democrats against or not voting."
Republicans rejected various Democratic amendments to tie the tax cut to their proposals to reinstate tax credits and exemptions that the GOP eliminated or reduced in 2011 as part of a business tax reduction.
"Let's put this in perspective. This is the opening round of this debate over what to do with the surplus. It's not a done deal yet, but this House committee is in favor of an income tax rollback," Skubick said.
There are now four separate tax-relief proposals pending on the House or Senate floors, but no broad deal. Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed partially restoring a tax break for homeowners and renters that he helped scale back in 2011.
RELATED: Michigan Panel OKs Tax Cut For Homeowners, Renters
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