Amway Guy's NEW $1.75 billion dollar business tax cut

by: matt

Thu Oct 12, 2006 at 11:11:29 AM EDT

DeVos' declaration that he'd eliminate the tax, made Tuesday night during his second debate with Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, thrilled a manufacturers' group but left education and local government organizations worried.

The Republican businessman doesn't yet have a plan for how he would make up the $1.75 billion lost, campaign spokesman John Truscott said. He'd have to work that out with lawmakers, possibly as part of a larger restructuring of the state's main corporate tax. (emphasis added)

That promise to just "work it out" doesn't sit too well with the local city governments in Michigan - you know, the folks who - among other things - pay the police officers who you call when your house is broken into - and the firefighters who will rescue your kids if your dwelling becomes engulfed in a blazing inferno. Yeah, those guys:

Summer Minnick of the Michigan Municipal League says the tax accounts for a quarter or a fifth of many communities' total tax revenue. In some, one in every three dollars comes from the tax.

"Our communities already operate with a fiscal noose around their necks. Just blindly eliminating the personal property tax would be like kicking the chair out from under them," she said.

As if having THAT spread to every newspaper, TV, and radio station in Michigan of any consequence wasn't bad enough for the Amway Guy - today comes this from Michigan's largest newspaper, the Detroit Free Press...

(More below the fold...)

For communities that are industry-based, the tax is huge.

City of Wayne finance director Tim McCurley said his city's personal property tax brings in $14 million -- 42% of the city's general budget -- and $7 million for Wayne-Westland Community Schools.

The percentage is unusually high in Wayne because the small city has two large Ford Motor Co. plants with a large amount of taxable machinery.

"Even if you replaced 90% of it, you're still talking about cutting $400,000," McCurley said. "For us to cut that much, you're talking police, fire, public safety." (emphasis added)

He (Granholm spokesman Chris DeWitt) said DeVos, former Amway president and heir to the family-owned company (now Alticor), would benefit personally from such a large business tax cut.

"He claims to be a successful businessman, yet he comes up with an idea of cutting all these taxes and has no clue whatsoever as to what the real impact would be," DeWitt said. (emphasis added)

Patterson said Wednesday he supports DeVos' effort to cut taxes, but said the personal property tax could not be eliminated.

"There are some communities where it makes up 40% to 50% of their budget," he said.

For those keeping score, that's a total of $3.6 BILLION dollars that Amway Guy proposes to whack from the state budget without saying what programs he would cut or which remaining taxes he would increase. Just figure it out later. Tomorrow. Domani. And he calls himself a succesful businessman?  Is this how he ran Amway?

And no, this isn't about whether business equipment should be taxed. Honestly, I have no idea whether it should or not. What I do know is this: Anyone who proposes getting rid of $1.75 billion dollars in state revenue - for whatever reason - damn well better be able to say how he intends to pay for it - UP FRONT. Anyone who does otherwise is a chattering coward who should not be taken seriously by anyone, let alone elected Governor!

Well, Amway Guy stepped in a pile of doo-doo this time. To slash over $1.5 billion in state funding once - without paying for it - is crazy enough. To do it AGAIN is downright pathological.  But the press is onto his game of George Bush economics. No free ride this time (except from the Detroit News). Time to face the music, DeVos.