Advocacy News – May 26, 2021
Several tax bills saw action this week in the Michigan legislature. A summary of this action is as follows: HB 4288 – Small Business Tax Savings: The legislation will provide $190 million in tax relief to Michigan businesses organized as “pass-throughs” or businesses whose profits pass through to the owner where they pay individual income tax on those profits.
The Michigan Chamber has led the charge on this effort and yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee reported the bill. The legislation received bipartisan support in the House, but only Republican members of the Senate committee supported the bill yesterday after Democratic member, Senator Chang, offered an amendment to increase the tax rate from 4.25 percent to 5 percent. We hope for a quick and bipartisan floor vote.
SB 195 – Interest Expense Deduction Limitation Clarity: The Michigan Chamber provided testimony in support of SB 195 yesterday in the Senate Finance Committee. The legislation aims to correct a Department of Treasury notice issued back in June of last year that interprets the limitation calculation in a manner taxpayers disagree with.
The Michigan Chamber has continued its effort to correct the confusing interpretation contained in the notice.
SB 393 – COVID Afflicted Business Relief: Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Michigan Chamber has been steadfast in its efforts to provide relief to struggling businesses. While the Governor continues to oppose these measures, the Michigan Chamber will not back down. Similar to other business relief efforts in the past, which included this mechanism as direct property tax relief and direct payment from Treasury, it is now designed to be a tax credit.
The bill was reported from the Senate Finance Committee with only Republican members supporting it.
SB 392 – Corporate Income Tax Decrease: This legislation will reduce Michigan’s Corporate Income Tax rate to 4.9 percent from its current 6 percent rate. While the move is not a top Chamber priority, we encourage continued discussions around Michigan’s tax competitiveness and SB 392 allows for this. The bill amounts to an approximately $240 tax cut once fully instituted.
The Senate Finance Committee took testimony on the bill and will likely vote it out next week.
SB 248 – Partnership Audit Reform: The Chamber is leading the charge in getting Multistate Tax Commission model legislation adopted in Michigan to clarify how partnerships report federal audit adjustments. As a response to how partnerships are audited for federal tax purposes, states are being encouraged to adopt legislation that will clarify how to report federal audit adjustments to state Treasury departments.
The Michigan Chamber testified on the legislation last hearing and the bill was reported unanimously today.
For more information on these tax issues, please contact Dan Papineau at dpapineau@michamber.com