Yesterday, the State Board of Canvassers met to consider the 100-word summary petition language on the ballot proposal by Invest in MI Kids that claims to pump $1.7 billion dollars into the School Aid Fund by “taxing the rich”. What it really does is put thousands of small businesses in harm’s way by implementing a graduated income tax to a staggering 9.25%. And in even more alarming news – after all the public comment yesterday shedding light on that fact – the Board of Canvassers did not modify summary language to reflect this truth – THEY FAILED!
You answered the call that the SBAM Advocacy team put out a few weeks ago by providing public comment to the Board of Canvassers and we could not be more grateful. There was an acknowledgement at the meeting that small business owners showed up and it’s not a shock to us – you are our greatest voice.
SBAM led a coalition of business organizations to provide public comment directly to the Board of Canvassers. Our Vice President of Policy and Engagement Kelli Saunders shared the cold hard facts – this new tax is a small business tax. According to publicly available IRS tax data, small businesses would account for 66-77% of the payers for this new tax with the $500,000 for single filer and $1 million for joint filers thresholds, because Sole Proprietors, LLCs, Partnerships, and S-Corps claim their business income on their individual income tax.
We went to the Board of Canvassers with several requested changes to the 100-word summary to ensure that voters had an unbiased appraisal of this ballot petition before they signed it.
- Clearly state that small businesses will be affected by this tax
- Clearly state that this is a graduated income tax, with a top-level rate of 9.25%
- Clearly state that funds generated from this tax are subject to the whims of the legislature and won’t necessarily improve student outcomes.
Unfortunately, these requests were not accepted by the Board.
Please see the statement I issued here.
What happens next?
Because the Board of Canvassers deadlocked, the Invest in MI Kids coalition can begin collecting signatures with the Director of Elections’ proposed summary at the start of yesterday’s meeting. The summary is misleading and does not give a face to small businesses who will be shouldering the weight of this proposal if it were to gather enough signatures, make it to the ballot, and pass.
SBAM will be in discussions in the coming weeks on how we now pivot to providing the general public with the knowledge they need to fully understand the ramifications of this harmful proposal. What we would ask you to do is to make sure you share with your networks how they should NOT consider signing these petitions if approached. A good catch phrase is “decline to sign”.
Thank you for trusting us to carry your voice. While this outcome wasn’t what we had hoped for, you can take solace in knowing we put it all on the line and a deadlock means that two out of the four canvassers saw you, heard you, and the board not coalescing around a 100-word summary shows that this proposal is deeply flawed.
Please join us for the Small Business Briefing on Monday where we will continue to discuss this matter.
Brian Calley, President & CEO