Legislature has been clumsy in handling SBT

The daily newspaper published in Livingston County, The Daily Press & Argus, finally joined the rest of the state’s newspapers and condemned the cowardly act of eliminating the Single Business Tax (SBT) without a replacement by the Legislature where Mike’s opponent is one of its so-called leaders in an editorial Tuesday.

Just hours after the rash act last month the immediate negative effects were felt, and Standard & Poor's gave Michigan a negative outlook on its credit rating just hours after the State House and Senate voted to repel the SBT two years ahead of schedule.

"There is some concern that when and if Lansing decides how to replace the Single Business Tax, there won't be time to put the mechanism together to collect the revenue.
The SBT, as it is sometimes called, raises nearly $2 billion annually. But Republican lawmakers got rid of it prematurely, so it is essential that replacement revenue be found.
We aren't that worried about the timing. Lansing will surely find a way to get tax dollars from business.

But we are still irked by the way the SBT elimination came about. It was already scheduled to die by the end of the decade, but Republicans used a looming petition drive to justify getting rid of it two years early.

But the Legislature dumped it without replacing the revenue it generated. It's not clear what type of tax will take its place. It's not clear who will pay more and who will pay less. And it's not clear if the change will be revenue-neutral or a tax cut.

Those are decisions that should have been made — and debated — before scrapping the tax. It didn't happen, so now lawmakers will have to make good on their argument that the elimination of the SBT will force them to come to a decision.