Saturday, March 24, 2007

New 2% Service Tax Voted Down


One issue which has many Michigan Real Estate Agents' shorts in a bunch was the Governors proposed 2% Tax on Real Estate transactions. On Thursday evening, the Michigan Senate Republicans, under the leadership of Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R- Rochester) voted down Governor Granholm’s 2% tax on services, sending a clear message that tax increases to balance the 2007 budget are off the table. The vote went down along party lines with all Republican Senators voting against the Governor’s tax proposal joined by one Democrat, Senator Glenn Anderson (D- Westland), a REALTOR® member. In speaking with reporters following the vote Sen. Bishop declared Governor Granholm’s 2% tax on services “killed for good.”

Following the vote to defeat the tax, the Senate worked into the night to pass the remaining budget cuts totaling almost $600 million. The remaining votes went down party lines as the budget was passed.

This defeat was "Good News" in the sea of all those negative real estate news stories.

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