LANSING ? Michigan lawmakers are reviewing three proposed bills offered by Gov. Jennifer Granholm that would preserve a variety of tax credits now granted business under Michigan’s Single Business Tax to see what, if any, portions they can include in their own bills.

The proposed bills sent to the Legislature late Monday deal with allowing a business to maintain its Michigan Economic Growth Authority credits or its business tax-free status if it is located in a renaissance zone as well as ensuring brownfield/historic development credits.

The bills introduced thus far by the Legislature – HB 6183 and HB 6184 , and SB 1301 and SB 1302 – focus on the brownfield/historic credits.

In a special message to the Legislature sent Friday, Granholm called on lawmakers to enact legislature guaranteeing the credits will remain in place once the SBT is eliminated. While the tax is now slated to expire in 2009, petitions were submitted to the state for an initiated act to accelerate the expiration to 2007 and Granholm has said she believed the tax would be eliminated by the end of this year. She said the department would provide proposals on the credits by Tuesday.

Concerns about the potential impact of eliminating the SBT on development credits has raised worries on projects across the state, including a proposed redevelopment of the Book-Cadillac Hotel.

In a statement, Treasurer Robert Kleine said: “It is imperative that these incentives be protected. As we continue to use any and all available resources to both retain Michigan jobs and attract new companies to the state, we cannot allow what is already in our toolbox to become ineffective.”

Kleine also expressed confusion by statements from House officials that Treasury has been “sitting on solutions” to these and other SBT issues.

“I have made clear from my first day on the job, that this department would work cooperatively with the legislature to do what is right for the State of Michigan,” Kleine said. “I am not aware of any request for Treasury input that has been denied. No one who has called to discuss this issue or to request a meeting has been turned away.”

Effectively, the proposal from the administration on the MEGA credits allows a business to claim a credit to whatever the successor tax of the SBT is. A Department of Treasury official said some individuals have argued that such a credit could not be enacted because there is no specific tax to link the credit to. But the official said there are no other proposals in place now to guarantee the MEGA credits remain in place if the SBT is eliminated.

The renaissance zone proposal would also allow a company located in a renaissance zone and therefore exempt from the SBT would be able to claim a similar credit under the successor tax to the SBT.

And the brownfield and historic renovation credit allows for the credit to be granted under the new tax when the property owner who has previously obtained authority to get a credit once a brownfield or historic development is completed.

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) said Senate officials are studying the administration’s proposals to see if they can be combined with proposals already in the hopper.

The House Tax Policy Committee is scheduled to meet on its credit bills on Wednesday. The Senate Finance Committee is also scheduled to meet on Wednesday, though it’s agenda does not yet include the Senate versions of the credit.

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