LANSING – The Michigan Coalition for Tax Relief and Jobs found 60 percent of voters opposed to Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed changes to the Single Business Tax, far more opposition than previous polls have shown.

The Coalition attributed the disparities between its poll and one released earlier this week by supporters of the change to providing voters with more, and what it said was more accurate, information. In addition to the differences in undecideds (7 percent compared to 25 percent in the Marketing Resource Group poll), Coalition officials said their poll also showed more adamant support or opposition. Some 37 percent strongly opposed the plan and 24 percent strongly supported it.

The group’s poll also found that a majority, 56 percent, felt taxes on individuals were too high and a plurality, 42 percent, said taxes on businesses were too high. Another 39 percent said individual taxes were about right and 26 percent said business taxes were about right. The group said voters needed to question how much tax relief the plan would provide.

“The majority of Michigan businesses will not see tax relief but are likely to see an increase in their insurance premiums as a result of the governor’s plan,” said Gary Wolfram, an economist for the group. “In addition, most economists recognize 2001 as the low point in corporate profits of our economic cycle. Therefore, the old SBT numbers used by the governor’s administration are not reflective of the true tax picture today or in 2006.”

The question posed to those polled noted that taxes would increase on some businesses. “The governor’s proposal would raise taxes on businesses like home, auto and life insurance companies, service businesses and professionals like accountants and doctors, but provide tax cuts to manufacturing companies, especially big companies like Ford and GM,” the poll question said in explaining the change.

In addition to insurance groups, John Truscott, spokesperson for the coalition, said a number of small businesses, retailers and law firms are joining the effort. He said signup sheets are still circulating to determine initial membership.

The poll was conducted by TargetPoint Consulting of Alexandria, Virginia. It questioned 700 people March 7-10 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

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