April 21, 1958
Memorandum 192-7 (April 21, 1958) 6 pages
The Revenue Position of Local Governments
As a public service the Research Council prepared digests of staff reports to the Michigan State Tax Study Committee. This digest found that Michigan cities and villages are less dependent on taxes and considerably more dependent on intergovernmental and miscellaneous revenues than the aggregate of all United States municipalities. The fact that Michigan cities and villages derive a smaller proportion of their revenues from taxes than do their counterparts in the nation as a whole and that this proportion has declined more rapidly in this State is probably attributable to the virtual absence in Michigan of municipal powers to impose non-property taxes, the relative inelasticity of the property tax, and the higher-than-average contributions of the State to city and village revenues.