Advocacy News – April 25, 2024
What’s happening: As the legislative budget process gets formally underway, subcommittees have begun to pass their versions of the budget. In a major initial win for the MI Chamber, businesses and consumers across the state, both State House and Senate subcommittees opted to not fund Gov. Whitmer’s massive fee increase proposal on the state’s tipping fee, aka the “trash tax.”
Why it matters: The proposed fee — from $0.36 per ton of solid waste to $5 per ton — would severely impact manufacturing and industrial companies, along with hospitals and educational institutions, that deal with large quantities of low hazard waste. The neary 1,300% increase in the fee is said to bring Michigan in line with average fee rates in Midwest states. However, the statisticacl averaging paints a deceiving picture with neighboring states like Indiana at $.60.
By the numbers: Preliminary number crunching found the average school district could see as much as a $300,000 increase in costs.
What we’re saying: The MI Chamber, along with partner groups such as the Michigan Waste and Recycling Coalition, were quick to voice concerns with the proposal. While at face value it may seem innocuous, increasing the costs of waste removal represents a tax on every Michigander, and disproportionately affects low-income communities. The MI Chamber is also a fierce advocate for better funding and regulations surrounding contaminated site clean-ups in the state, but the $60 million generated by this fee hike is a tradeoff of costly unintended consequences and a fraction of the funding necessary to make a significant impact on cleaning up some of the state’s 12,000 orphan sites.
What’s next: The MI Chamber will remain laser focused on monitoring and combatting this unreasonable fee as the budget and legislative process continues.
For questions or more information, contact Mike Alaimo.