Senator Nancy Cassis :: 15th District

Senate Republican Priorities
and Achievements

Budget: Right-sizing government and Growing Michigan's Economy

The first step to government's economic recovery is an honest acknowledgement of the crisis. Denial is no longer an option, and reliance on tired old solutions and political rhetoric will not change our fortunes. Staying the course is only going to make matters worse and prolong our journey to the road to recovery. (more)

Elimination of MBT Surcharge

Senate Republicans sent a message this year to Michigan job providers to let them know how important they are to re-energizing our state's economy. We encouraged them to keep their businesses here with our recent passage of a bill to eliminate the onerous Michigan Business Tax surcharge. Senate Bill 1 phases out the 21.99 percent MBT surcharge over a two-year period - cutting the surcharge by half to 11 percent in 2009 and eliminating it by 2010. (more)

Workforce Training and Jobs

With our state's unemployment rate nearly 50 percent higher than the rest of the country, we must do everything we can to help put people back to work and facilitate job creation. Michigan has been in a one-state recession for the past six years and our state's economy is undergoing a change that is fundamental and long lasting. As this process plays out, the need to have a trained and capable workforce will grow and remain a top consideration for employers and entrepreneurs deciding where they want to locate. (more)

Health Care Reforms

Currently, Michigan is home to an estimated 1.1 million residents who do not have health insurance, which is equal to 11.5 percent of the state's population. This number is likely to increase unless the economy improves.

Michigan Senate Republicans understand many residents are afraid that they may not be able to afford health insurance. In the last legislative session we tried to address these concerns before they became an issue for the people of Michigan, but unfortunately, the House did not agree. (more)

Eliminate Bureaucracy

Senate Republicans will continue to do everything to make our state a leader in the nation for job growth. One of the most important factors a business considers when deciding where to locate or expand its operations is the time, cost, and ease of compliance associated with a state's regulatory climate.

Senate Republicans will continue our fight to eliminate bureaucracy and make Michigan an inviting place to do business. We will work with job providers to reform the regulatory structure in Michigan and to put pressure on the administration when the actions of a department are costing us precious jobs. (more)

An Agenda for Strong Schools

Senate Republicans firmly believe that the success of our great state will depend almost entirely on whether Michigan has the kind of education system that provides our children and future generations with the skills to succeed in the fiercely competitive and ever-evolving global economy. Literally and figuratively, we simply cannot afford an education model that has grown out of a 20th century industrial and agrarian society. Just as we must diversify our economy, we must challenge ourselves to innovate and to create a diverse and comprehensive approach to educating our children. We are focused and committed to a long-range plan to build strong schools that reflect a dynamic, efficient and high-performance 21st century learning environment. (more)

Protecting Water and Natural Resources

Michigan's natural resources are one of the state's most valuable assets. It is imperative that they be preserved and protected. Senate Republicans will continue our strong leadership role in protecting our water and our environment.

Efforts to conserve Michigan's natural resources are not new for Senate Republicans. For more than five years, we have been leading the way to develop proactive legislation to protect the Great Lakes, promote alternative energy, and expand recycling in Michigan. (more)

Keeping People in Their Homes

Senate Republicans will take action to ensure families are not taxed out of their homes in these tough economic times.

Property values in Michigan have declined steadily over the past two years. Most homeowners have seen the values of their homes drop 15 percent to 25 percent. Property taxes, however, have actually increased over the same period.

We will lead the charge to fix the constitutional provision that allows property taxes to increase while the value of your home decreases. (more)

Making Neighborhoods Safe

Senate Republicans served on a bipartisan workgroup comprised of members of the governor's administration, the House, and the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center to determine how the state might reduce corrections spending while reinvesting in measures that will make communities safer and stronger. The workgroup produced a bipartisan package of policy options that gives Michigan a real chance to achieve needed cost savings and prevents crime at the same time. (more)

From the Senate Floor

Michigan Senate Republicans Floor Statements

Senator Cropsey refutes false statements by the governor and other democrats that the Senate has not acted on revenue generating legislation for the K12 budget.

Recent Blogs from Senate Republicans

The leaves have all fallen from the trees, the temperatures are dropping and soon the snow will be flying it must be time for one of my favorite holidays: Thanksgiving. (read)

Incentives may not be boon we need

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The original editorial can be found here.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

By GLENN GILBERT
Of The Oakland Press

Former Vice President Al Gore was the driving force behind the Oscar-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” which dealt with mankind’s abuse of the environment.

It was something we didn’t want to hear, but needed to know — hence the title.

Now, State Sen. Nancy Cassis of Novi is confronting us with another set of data we might rather not hear about. She says some of the tax incentives Michigan is giving to attract businesses are not necessarily good for the state or its taxpayers.

Everyone wants to hear about jobs coming to Michigan. We were thrilled with General Motors’ decision to build its next-generation subcompact car in Orion Township. We also applauded Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s announcement about the film studio coming to northern Oakland County.

But they came with a price — the promise of tax concessions at a time when government services such as education are suffering from declining tax revenue.

“It is becoming much more of a front-burner issue — how much the public, the taxpayer, is spending on these tax credits,” Cassis said. “Unfortunately, it has taken a budget crisis” to surface the issue, she said.

A recent report by the East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group indicated that Michigan’s eight main tax incentive programs cost the state treasury almost $900 million in 2008 in “nominal” tax revenues. But, as the study points out, that assumes the business activity would have occurred anyway without the state tax incentives — which may or may not be true.

“The nominal tax expenditure is, at best, a rough guess, and probably an overestimate of the actual ‘cost’ of the program,” the Anderson report authors said.

However, they were precise with their criticisms about the tax credits benefiting the film industry.

While noting that Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax incentives have cost the state an estimated $5,000 in foregone tax revenue per new job, per year, the report said that “the film credit, meanwhile, has been estimated to cost $50,000 per new job, per year, in terms of foregone tax revenue ... a credit of $50,000 means that the state is not just incentivizing activity — it is actually paying for the activity.”

A recent report Michigan State University compiled for the Michigan Film Office shows 32 films were produced in Michigan during the film credit’s first nine months, at a cost of $48 million to the state general fund.

The Michigan Department of Treasury and the Senate and House Fiscal Agencies have estimated that the film credit could cost the general fund $100 million for the full 2009 fiscal year and $150 million in fiscal 2010.

The report also states that the credits created 2,800 jobs. However, these jobs only lasted for an average of 23 days. According to the Senate Fiscal Agency, when the number is annualized the result is 254 jobs, Cassis pointed out.

The Anderson report says “there is currently no proper, publicly available inventory of business tax incentive programs” or “any assessment of the effectiveness of the programs.”

Cassis’ Senate Bill 71 would increase the reporting requirements for MEGA tax credits by requiring the reports to include the actual number of jobs created and the actual value of the tax credits claimed. The bill was unanimously approved by the Senate in February and is pending in the House following approval by that chamber’s New Economy and Quality of Life Committee.

Cassis told the committee there is a disconnect between the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s job announcements and the actual state of employment.

“As Michigan continues to have the nation’s highest employment rate, we need transparency to ensure the state gets a better return on its investment,” Cassis said.

As an example, Cassis questioned granting a fourth credit to Quicken Loans, which is moving its headquarters from Livonia to Detroit.

“How does pitting one Michigan community against another help economic development?” Cassis asked. “Was the cost of Livonia losing jobs calculated in MEDC’s decision?”

A Quicken Loans spokeswoman declined to respond to Cassis’ statement.

Obviously there is a place for tax incentives. Craig Main, MEDC’s president and chief executive officer, said the state would not have won the high-stakes competition to build General Motors Corp.’s next-generation subcompact car without targeted tax breaks. He said the factory would have gone to Tennessee or Wisconsin and not Orion Township, north of Pontiac.

“I don’t think there’s any question about that,” Main told the Associated Press.

Cassis doesn’t dispute that. In fact, in supporting legislation that would “right-size” the film credit, she still wants “Michigan to continue offering the most generous and competitive film incentives in the nation.”

All of us enjoy hearing reports about jobs coming to Michigan. It is tempting not to care if we have to give away the store to get them — we are so desperate. But there is nothing wrong with Cassis’ demands that the value of tax incentives be proven factually.

She should be commended for her efforts.

Glenn Gilbert is executive editor of The Oakland Press. Contact him at (248) 745-4587 or glenn.gilbert@oakpress.com.