For Immediate Release: May 16, 2017

Contact:  Eric Lupher
734.542.8001

You might only die once but in Michigan there are 64 ways you can be taxed
The Citizens Research Council of Michigan releases updated version of its popular Outline of the Michigan Tax System report
Benjamin Franklin famously said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Even Ben might be surprised that while each of us will only die once, the government he helped form has found multiple ways to tax its citizens over the years. Today in Michigan there are 65 different ways you can be taxed by state and local government.
To help policy makers and citizens better understand the current state of taxation in Michigan, The Citizens Research Council of Michigan has updated and released its most popular report, the Outline of the Michigan Tax System. Citizens Research Council updates this report annually as a handy reference that explains every type of tax in Michigan and any tax changes that might have taken place over the past year.
“Overall, this past year was pretty calm on the taxation front but as we noted in our recently released report on Michigan’s personal income tax, that may have been the calm before the storm in 2017 as lawmakers actively consider reducing Michigan’s personal income tax,” said Eric Lupher, president of the Citizens Research Council of Michigan. “Taxpayers will also see large increases with the majority of fuel and transportation taxes as the new tax revenue is collected for highway funding.”
While Michigan didn’t see major tax changes since last year’s report, two new taxes were added:

• A tax on the newly regulated medical marihuana industry – a new 3% tax on the gross revenue of approved vendors. The revenue is divided between the state, counties, and municipalities.
• A tax on a new forest category, transitional qualified forest land – to limit the extreme tax hike an individual faces when re-classifying commercial forest property to qualified forest property.

The 65 taxes available in Michigan’s system of state and local taxes include 42 identifiable taxes imposed by the state for its own use and 23 taxes imposed by or for local governments. For each tax contained in the Tax Outline, information is provided on its legal authority, rate, base, administration, and the amount of revenue it raises. The Tax Outline also contains helpful links to official sources, which may contain more details than are available in the Research Council’s summary outline. In addition to tracking the details of each tax’s rate and base, the Tax Outline tracks tax revenues from year to year.
The Tax Outline is available at no cost on the Citizens Research Council’s website, www.crcmich.org.