Michigan Chamber to Release Study Attacking $4 Billion Unemployment Debt 

Tomorrow, April 27, the Michigan Chamber Foundation will release a major nonpartisan, economic study that identifies up to $550 million in annual cost-saving reforms to Michigan's bankrupt unemployment insurance (UI) program. Michigan's debt for its employer-financed UI program is the second highest in the nation behind California. 

The study, which will be unrolled at House and Senate Committee hearings, identifies key policy recommendations to reengineer Michigan's employer-financed UI system. If implemented, the recommendations will put Michigan on the path to eliminating the nearly $4 billion debt incurred and ensuring that UI benefits are available to workers when they need them. 

Without reforms like those recommended in this study, which target the waste, fraud and inefficiencies within the UI system, Michigan job providers' total additional tax burden will increase over the next decade to repay the debt - plus up to $1 billion in interest.

The Foundation's UI Study will be available on the Michigan Chamber's website on Wednesday. Chamber staff will be using the study to make the case for legislative and administrative reforms to the system. 

Please contact Wendy Block, Director of Health Policy and Human Resources, if you have any questions. She may be reached by phone at (517) 371-7678. 

Hearings Will Be Held This Week to Discuss Revised Tax Reform Plan

This week, the House Tax Policy Committee has scheduled three hearings to consider the revised tax reform plan put Randy Richardville and House Speaker Jase Bolger.

The plan, which leaves intact a 6% Corporate Income Tax as a replacement for the ill-conceived Michigan Business Tax and phases in certain changes to the Individual Income Tax Act, is expected to receive a vote in the House Tax Policy Committee this week. There is potential for a vote by the full Michigan House this week as well. 

We encourage you to utilize our easy-to-use Action Alert system to ask your legislators to support repeal of the MBT and replace it with a simpler and fairer tax structure. For more detailed information about the compromise tax plan, click here.

Please watch videos of Tricia Kinley, Senior Director of Tax & Regulatory Reform for the Michigan Chamber, as she speaks Governor Snyder and Senate Majority Leader Richardville.