Search

Byline: David Eggert A proposal to tax and regulate services that function as a sort of Airbnb for car rentals has sparked the latest legislative fight over the sharing economy. [...]

Byline: Kirk Pinho State lawmakers have thrown a lifeline to the developer behind a pair of proposed high-rise buildings in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. At risk: Nearly $9 million in Michigan [...]

Byline: Chad Livengood Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer can't get the legislative engine to turn over on her 45-cent gas tax increase. Nearly tripling the 26.3-cents-per-gallon fuel tax is deemed too [...]

Byline: Chad Halcom A legal challenge to a defunct business tax structure in Michigan could roll in with at least two disputes in other states for the U.S. Supreme Court [...]

Reformers in Michigan avoided the loopholes that undermined California's Proposition 13. Their Headlee Amendment reined in spending and tax increases so much that the state is giving money back to [...]

On October 26, 2017, Michigan's governor signed into law HB 4999, which bans local governments from passing taxes on soda (or any other food or beverages). Approved without much fanfare, [...]

Byline: AMY LANE Real estate developers, local government leaders and consultants specializing in finding new life for brownfield sites say new state legislation in the works could help jump-start a [...]

Corporate tax hike no cure for city woes A small part of the city of Detroit's plan for return to fiscal health is an increase in the tax on C-corporations [...]

Byline: MIKE TURNER Legislation that would change Michigan's personal property tax system by eventually eliminating the industrial portion -- and also exempting most commercial businesses -- is expected to be [...]

When Michigan voters recently approved a plan to substitute sales taxes and other state taxes for the local property tax, it gained national attention. The New York Times called it [...]

Over the past year, the state of Michigan has profoundly changed the way in which the state's elementary and secondary schools are funded and, at the same time, fundamentally reformed [...]

New biz tax, new funds brighten state outlook Last week, Gov. Rick Snyder and the Legislature accomplished what no elected leaders in our state had done in 30 years: pass [...]

Byline: Keith Crain During these difficult times, Detroit's mayor would like to increase the rate casinos pay in taxes for a year to raise additional revenue. It will require the [...]

B'field Park developer goes to Ann Arbor Craig Schubiner, the developer behind the massive Bloomfield Park retail and condo venture that failed in 2008, is set to bring a more [...]

Byline: AMY LANE Gov. Rick Snyder's tax reform proposal would slice business-tax contributions to state revenue and shift the burden largely to increases in individual income taxes. Under Snyder's plan, [...]

Byline: AMY LANE Gov. Rick Snyder is wagering that an improved business tax structure trumps the need for widespread tax incentives. 'Let's stop the tax credits and realize, in many [...]

Byline: Mary Kramer Crain's Michigan Business? Yes, after 25 years of serving Southeast Michigan executives with need-to-know news and information, Crain's today extends its periscope to explore the rest of [...]

Better biz tax might not need incentives At a fundraising dinner last Thursday to support the Michigan Political Leadership Program, Gov. Rick Snyder offered a glimpse of how he looks [...]

Maybe Illinois tax hike will pay off here With the corporate tax rate in Illinois hiked to 9.5 percent from 7.3 percent, Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches is considering moving from [...]

Byline: DUSTIN WALSH The Michigan Economic Growth Authority approved tax credits for four automotive suppliers at its meeting last month. The four projects would create an expected 419 jobs over [...]

Byline: AMY LANE Business is looking for change. And it's willing to lend expertise to help Gov.-elect Rick Snyder make it happen. Whether it's improvements in the state regulatory process, [...]

Byline: Sherri Welch Estate-planning professionals expect a federal legislative clamor to pass new estate tax legislation after the November elections. Despite expectations that Congress might take up the issue earlier [...]

Byline: SHAWN WRIGHT The Open Door Rescue Mission, a men's homeless shelter in Detroit, is hoping its 400 Club campaign, which emphasizes a Michigan tax credit program, will entice donors [...]

Byline: AMY LANE Pledging to cut business taxes is the easy part. The harder part -- and controversy -- will come when Virg Bernero or Rick Snyder try to turn [...]

Byline: BILL SHEA AND DUSTIN WALSH There's been a steady trickle of automotive suppliers based outside Michigan taking advantage of tax breaks to launch or expand operations locally to be [...]

Byline: AMY LANE Southeast Michigan businesspeople want to see the Michigan Business Tax reduced -- but not necessarily at the expense of a worsening state structural budget deficit. A recent [...]

Byline: Amy Lane Businesses that have delinquent tax liabilities might want to put May 15 on their calendars. That's when the state will begin a 45-day tax amnesty period that [...]

Balance tax credits with growth policies It's an election year, and politicians and policy wonks are engaging in the time-honored tradition of trashing one another's pet policies. Front and center [...]

Byline: Amy Lane Michigan's main business tax is headed for a shakeup or death, depending on whom Michigan elects as its next governor. At the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of [...]

Byline: BILL SHEA Pinnacle Race Course in Wayne County's Huron Township hasn't paid a combined $1.46 million in property taxes for 2009 and 2010 because it didn't receive its tax [...]

Byline: SHERRI WELCH The long-awaited 990 tax forms for nonprofits muddied the picture of compensation trends in 2008. All nonprofits that file a 990 should use a new form for [...]

Byline: AMY LANE Michigan faces an estimated $140 million interest bill next year stemming from its federal unemployment borrowing, and that could mean additional taxes starting in January for thousands [...]

Byline: AMY LANE Michigan's signature $100 million-apiece tax credits to attract advanced battery cell manufacturing operations have brought six projects to the state. But they've also brought criticism for their [...]

Byline: Amy Lane Tobacco distributors may be close to eliminating what they've seen as a costly problem in Michigan's business tax that passed in 2007. Senate Bill 361, which gained [...]

Byline: SHAWN WRIGHT One proponent of a statewide ballot proposal to add new casinos in Michigan is moving ahead full speed, while a competing proposal remains a moving target. The [...]

Byline: Amy Lane The idea of extending Michigan's sales tax to consumer services finds some receptivity in Southeast Michigan, a new poll shows. The issue was one of two questions [...]

Byline: CHAD HALCOM Royal Oak may venture into uncharted legal waters this week when it starts implementing a new oversight practice for its Downtown Development Authority in the wake of [...]

Byline: AMY LANE Five companies plan to invest $79.4 million and bring just shy of 4,000 jobs to the Detroit area over the next few years in a series of [...]

Byline: CHAD HALCOM The financial noose around local governments will keep tightening for at least two more years, and those shedding jobs and services to balance their budgets will not [...]

City needs tax policy to boost farm plans It's early, but Detroit could be the comeback story of this very young decade. But it could be farming not auto manufacturing [...]

Byline: BILL SHEA Several questions have arisen about efforts by backers of Wonderstruck Studios L.L.C. to lease space for an animation facility inside Ford Field, but one has been cleared [...]

The First Step Fund is the latest in a series of recent efforts at helping fund startups and young businesses. They include: Michigan House Bill No. 5921, introduced March 3, [...]

Byline: SHERRI WELCH While the federal estate tax repeal has created a lot of uncertainty, the implementation of the new Michigan Trust Code on April 1 will help clarify state [...]

Byline: Amy Lane Michigan businesses may get a reprieve from having to file years of back tax returns that, until recently, weren't required. Passed unanimously by the state House last [...]

Byline: AMY LANE Bills that would provide for tax abatements for construction or renovation of LEED-certified buildings are being discussed in Lansing, as lawmakers look at ways to promote community [...]