2009 House Bill 5352 (Suspend income tax personal exemption COLA increase )

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Introduced by Rep. George Cushingberry (D) on September 10, 2009, to make non-substantive wording changes to the income tax act. The bill is a parliamentary devise for quickly adopting an income tax increase in the event the votes are found for this as part of closing a gap between the amount of state spending desired by the administration and many legislators, and the amount of revenue expected without a tax hike.
- Referred to the House Tax Policy Committee on September 10, 2009.
  - Reported in the House on October 6, 2009, without amendment and with the recommendation that the bill pass.
- Substitute offered by Rep. George Cushingberry (D) on October 6, 2009, to use the blank slate of this legislative "vehicle" to impose a specific tax increase over the amount authorized by current statute. See House-passed bill for details. The substitute passed in the House by voice vote on October 6, 2009.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Phil Pavlov (R) on October 6, 2009, to tie-bar the bill to House Bills 4090, 4151, 4979 and 4980, meaning this bill cannot become law unless those ones do also. Those bills would require citizenship and resident preferences in subsidies & tax breaks, repeal restrictions on local government service consolidations, and authorize “education mandate rollback contracts” with school districts. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on October 6, 2009.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Joseph Haveman (R) on October 6, 2009, to tie-bar the bill to House Bill 5208, meaning this bill cannot become law unless that one does also. HB 5208 would create an unemployment insurance fraud control fund to buy software that can detect and collect benefit overpayments. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on October 6, 2009.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Gail Haines (R) on October 6, 2009, to tie-bar the bill to House Bills 4898, 4151, 4902, 4909, 4988 and 4908, meaning this bill cannot become law unless those ones do also. They would establish expedited environmental permit application processes, eenchmark state environmental regulation administration, regulate certain environmental-related plant inspections, limit state regulation promulgation authority, and require periodic review of state regulations. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on October 6, 2009.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Kimberly Meltzer (R) on October 6, 2009, to tie-bar the bill to House Bills 4043, 4121, and 4150, meaning this bill cannot become law unless those ones do also. They would all place the state’s “check register” on-line . The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on October 6, 2009.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Marty Knollenberg (R) on October 6, 2009, to tie-bar the bill to House Bill 4080, meaning this bill cannot become law unless that one does also. HB 4080 would end post-retirement health coverage for legislators. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on October 6, 2009.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Joseph Haveman (R) on October 6, 2009, to tie-bar the bill to House Bill 5480, meaning this bill cannot become law unless that one does also. HB 5480 would eliminate a scheduled increase in the earned income tax credit. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on October 6, 2009.
Passed in the House (58 to 51) on October 6, 2009, to suspend the annual inflation-indexed increase in the personal exemption allowed under state income tax for the 2009 tax year. This is projected to result in a $55 million increase in the amount of income tax paid by citizens. [Vote Details and Comments]
Received in the Senate on October 8, 2009.
- Referred to the Senate Finance Committee on October 8, 2009.

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1) Re: 2009 House Bill 5352 (Create legislative “vehicle” for income tax hike ) [by albaby2 on October 8, 2009]

Hello, Tea party-here I come!

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2) Re: 2009 House Bill 5352 (Create legislative “vehicle” for income tax hike ) [by Admin003 on October 7, 2009]

Rep. Hildenbrand, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

“Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise in opposition to these bills that raise taxes on the residents of Michigan.

The message from Michigan businesses and families is loud and clear, people across Michigan are calling on us to pass a balanced budget without raising taxes; to adopt meaningful reforms to avoid future annual budget crisis; and to reform and reduce Michigan’s business tax to jump-start our struggling economy.

With 15% unemployment it is obvious that our tax rates are not too low or that we don’t have enough taxes in place: The problem is we don’t have enough people paying taxes. People are moving out of state, are out of work, have lost wages and are not participating in our economy. The result: our tax revenues are down over 20%.

The last thing we need to do is raise taxes in this time of economic crisis. We can not tax ourselves into prosperity. This Legislature and the Governor should have learned their lesson 2 years ago when they raised $1.4 billion in new tax revenue. The result - today we have $2.8 billion in less revenue for state government - almost twice the loss of revenue in just 2 short years.

Let’s not punish our businesses and families while they are down. But let’s implement the agreement between the House and Senate to balance this budget with no new revenue and get serious about the reforms needed to make state government work.

Let’s focus on creating a strong and robust economy to put Michigan back to work instead of nickeling and diming the people of this state in order to feed state government.”

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3) Re: 2009 House Bill 5352 (Create legislative “vehicle” for income tax hike ) [by Admin003 on October 7, 2009]

Rep. Opsommer, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

“Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

For two sessions in a row, and in a bipartisan fashion, first with the late Rep. Vagnozzi and now with Rep. Barnett, we have tried to address high property taxes in Michigan by increasing the amount of the Homestead Property Tax Credit, a credit that has not been increased since 1976 and now causes far too many homeowners to pay more than their fair share and contributes to the housing crisis that was at the root of the financial market meltdown. While we have not been able to get these bills passed, I was told to take solace in the fact that at least the personal tax exemption was still being increased, and that my attempts to lower property taxes could jeopardize that. But now, I see that this money has been targeted regardless with the passage of HB5352, and property taxes will still not be lowered, and taxpayer reform will not be enacted in any way and will instead go to feed other programs. If we want to limit the amount of cuts we bring to programs like Revenue Sharing, it would be best to consider true reforms like the Urban Cooperation Act as we discuss the merits of these issues. Such discussions have continued to be pushed aside. I vote no on this bill’s passage.”

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