Ax the Tax Coalition
Oct. 16, 2007
Sample Letters to the Editor
The more I read about this new sales tax on services, the more I’m convinced that
Lansing messed up again. They never seem to learn their lesson. They wait to the very
last minute, and they do a backroom deal in the middle of the night, nobody’s actually
read the bill they’re voting on, then they act surprised when it turns out to be a disaster.
And from what I’m hearing from friends who own businesses, this new tax is a HUGE
disaster.
----I looked down the list of services that fall under the new state sales tax on services. The
politicians told us that this was going to be a list of “luxury” services, whatever that is.
But what’s on the list? A whole bunch of services people and businesses use all the time
that are far from luxuries. Why can’t the politicians ever just be straight with us? Why
always the bait and switch?
----They say that when you tax something you get less of it, and when you subsidize
something you get more of it. Well guess what they taxed on the new state service tax:
business start-up services! Maybe I missed something, but I thought we wanted MORE
businesses to start up in Michigan?
----I own a small business. It’s a tough time to run a business in Michigan. I’m fighting
every day to keep afloat. Now along comes Lansing and its new tax on services and I’m
pretty much going down for the third time. First of all, the tax is a complicated mess that
I’m going to have to spend thousands of dollars in accounting fees to even figure out.
Then there’s the sales tax I’m going to have to pay on the many services I have to buy.
Then there are the taxes on going to have to charge my customers – taxes my competitors
in other states don’t have charge. How does Lansing expect me to keep the doors of this
business open?
----Governor Granholm and the state legislature are levying a new state sales tax on
hundreds of services that individuals and businesses use all the time. Guess what service
they left off the list. That’s right: lobbying. Big surprise. We pay through the nose, but
the special interests that contribute to their campaigns don’t.
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I’m completely frustrated by Lansing’s plan to tax services. Michigan is in a single state
recession. We’re facing record home foreclosures. We’re seeing unprecedented job
losses. And now the politicians want us all to open up our pocketbooks and pay a tax on
something that wasn’t taxed yesterday?
It’s time that Michigan’s political leaders step up to the plate and find real meaningful
solutions. Band-Aids, quick fixes and higher taxes aren’t the answer. Expanding the sales
tax on entirely new areas of the economy is a bad idea.
-----Is anyone in Lansing reading the newspaper or watching TV? Have they not heard
Michigan’s economy is going down the drain? The new plan to expand the sales tax on
services WILL NOT help get Michigan back on track. It’s a bad idea in light of the
problems we’re facing. It will only make the cost of doing business, more expensive.
Employers just won’t take it anymore. They’ll take their companies and their jobs and
leave the state.
-----Let me see if I can get this straight. There’s a new tax on skiing but not golfing? There’s
a new tax on manicures but not haircuts? There’s a new tax on landscaping but not lawn
mowing? Only the politicians in Lansing could come up with a new tax plan that is
confusing, foolish and sticks it to the people of Michigan all at the same time.
Michigan is facing dire straights. No one denies that but a hodge-podge tax plan only
compounds the problem. It’s time for a plan that gets Michigan back to work.
-----Michigan’s small businesses can and will jumpstart our economic engine. But they can’t
do it if our elected officials insist on the new plan to tax services. We need tax policies
that alleviate the strain small businesses are facing. Instead, this plan only hampers
growth. It will be more expensive for businesses to do business but also make it more
expensive on consumers. Lansing needs to go back to the drawing board or risk
permanently decimating small businesses.
-----Times are tough. Michigan families have been tightening their belts. It’s time for
politicians in Lansing to do the same. The new tax on services could be a devastating
blow not only to our pocketbooks but our economy. Reduce spending. Don’t raise taxes.
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After weeks of late night, marathon sessions in Lansing, the Michigan Legislature and
Governor Granholm delivered the most crippling public policy this state has seen in a
long time. At a time when the states job providers are struggling to keep their doors open
and make payroll, they are handed the shaft in the form of a new expanded sales tax on
services. While lawmakers want us to believe it affects only a few, this new multi-million
dollar tax covers the many services we use from photo copying to hair salons to financial
planning. It is a bad plan that needs to be scrapped.
----The new sales tax on services is a bad idea dreamed up in the midnight hour by our
Lansing elected officials who were obviously too exhausted to think straight. How else
do you explain handing another blow to our crippling economy. Now that the group has
had a chance to catch up on their sleep, they need to move immediately to repeal this
thing.
----If it didn’t work in Florida and it didn’t work in Massachusetts, why do our elected
officials think a sales tax on services is going to work in Michigan? In those other states,
they put a sales tax on services and then repealed it so fast the tax bills barely made it in
the mail.
Michigan had a chance to learn from those experiences in not doing this new tax and
Lansing blew it. Now, Lansing has a second chance to learn the lesson and repeal the
sales tax on services before it costs us more jobs in our state.
----We hear a lot about how Lansing is suffering from a lack of experience because of term
limits. Well, our lawmakers have a chance now to learn an important lesson: if you make
a mess, clean it up.
This new sales tax on services is going to kill jobs in this state. For many businesses that
have struggled already, this is the final nail in the coffin (oh yeah, hearse services are
now taxed). The tax is a mess and Lansing needs to clean it up, before it goes into effect
in December. Learn your lesson lawmakers and clean up this mess.
----I’m a small business owner in Michigan, and let me tell you, there are fewer and fewer of
us everyday. Now, Lansing is passing a new sales tax on services that both me and my
customers are going to have to pay. Problem is I can’t get a straight answer from Lansing
about what services are taxed, which aren’t, when I might know and how much I’m going
to have to pay.
What a great way to run a business.
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My guess, I’m not going to know how this really is suppose to work until an auditor
shows up at my door.
What a terrible way to run a state.
----I can’t believe the Michigan Legislature passed an expanded sales tax to services. We are
in a “one state” recession and this is only going to make things worse. Why will
businesses want to stay here..or move here?
This is a jobs killing tax and should be repealed as soon as possible. The only jobs we
are growing are in the sales sector and the Governor has the audacity to try to kill them.
----As a small business owner, I am shocked and disappointed with the terrible new sales tax
on business services. Our state is clearly in economic decline and this new tax by the
Governor will not help.
In small business we have to be as efficient as we can in obtaining the necessary services.
I am the human resources director, the operations manager, and the facilities director.
However, I contract out with other small businesses to get the expertise and services I
need for my business. This terrible tax will effect how we do everything. I am not sure
how I will be to continue to afford many services essential to my business.
One thing I am sure ….I know Indiana and Ohio don’t have these taxes.
----I want to express my sincere disappointment of the Michigan Legislature and Governor
Granholm. Is anyone looking out for the future of Michigan’s economy? Michigan is
hemorrhaging jobs, unemployment is at its highest, the housing market is in crisis, and
now our “so called leadership” in Lansing has passed a tax increase on the business
community. A new sales tax on service? How does this attract companies to Michigan?
This needs to be fixed before Michigan becomes a wasteland. The State Legislature led a
poorly planned and economically devastating "solution" to the state's budget problem.
The Legislature should repeal this flawed tax, and if the legislature won't, it should come
before the voters.
----I hear there is a new sales tax on services. The Michigan Legislature passed a sales tax on
services almost literally as the clock struck midnight and as Michigan taxpayers slept.
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No hearings, no review, no input and clearly no clue as to how this new tax would
damage the state. Leadership at its finest.
Michigan’s economy is in crisis and the Legislature taxes the business community. This
was clearly a mistake and it needs to be addressed. Michigan cannot afford to loose any
more jobs. The goal should be to attract companies to Michigan not give incentives for
companies housed in here to relocate. I urge the Michigan Legislature to appeal this
flawed tax.
----The Michigan Legislature made a big mistake when they passed this new sales tax on
services. The only thing this benefits is government. The Michigan Legislature gets to
balance the budget and return to business as usual. And the business community will
pick up the tab so our leaders in Lansing can save face. Poorly implemented plans like
this hurt everyone though. Businesses will relocate to other states and cut jobs. Michigan
residents will loose their jobs or be force to move with the company, if they can sell their
house.
The Michigan Legislature need to repeal the new sales tax on services and enact more
sound policy that helps Michigan’s economy get back on track.
----As a business owner, I am shocked by the Michigan Legislature’s decision to create a
new sales tax on services. Our leaders in Lansing were literally asleep at the wheel
during these budget agreements.
There are so many businesses in Michigan struggling to keep the doors open. Every year
businesses tighten their budgets to cut costs and keep hard working employees on the
payroll. When is the Michigan Legislature going to tighten its budget? The legislature is
happy to make tough decisions when someone else is picking up the tab.
The Michigan Legislature needs to repeal the new sales tax on services. Michigan
businesses can’t afford it and Michigan’s voters deserve better.
----I am a small business owner in Michigan. With the Legislature running the taxes up and
up, my business is getting smaller and smaller by the day. I have been following the
Michigan legislatures last ditch effort to salvage the budget. I’m very disappointed to see
that the real backbone of this state, Michigan’s small businesses, were completely thrown
to the wolves with this new sales tax.
Why are you trying to make it harder to earn a living here??
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----I own a landscaping business here in Michigan. I can tell you that the legislatures “fix”
has not done me any favors. The spiraling economy here in Michigan has already
brought my business to a close halt. This new sales tax will not give anyone an incentive
to spend their hard earned money on landscaping.
I’m sure it was easy to pick specific “services” professions out of a hat and assign them
with a new tax, but you have targeted the working class, small business owners.
You have targeted me.
Simply said…my business cannot afford your new tax.
----The Michigan legislature has been hired to do a job. They are supposed to be our elected
voice, making decisions in the best interest of the taxpayers who elected them.
In the miserable condition our economy is in, how is it possible that a new tax on services
was the answer to fix Michigan’s budget problems? It wasn’t the best answer – it was
the easy answer.
Business owners are being chased out of this state one by one. The last thing we should
be doing is slapping them with a new services tax, making it even harder to keep their
doors open.
The rest of the nation was watching….and we embarrassed ourselves. Michigan business
owners needed help. All we did was throw more logs on the fire.
How much more do you expect business owners to put up with?
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