LANSING – A nearly-unanimous Michigan Senate passed its three Single Business Tax cut bills on Tuesday, putting itself on record as backing personal property tax credits on the SBT paid by businesses.

But the overall concurrence on SB 203 (passed 37-0), SB 909 (passed 36-1) and SB 910 (passed 36-1) did not equate to comity over the issue. Democrats attempted to add a number of amendments to the package to boost tax relief for the poorest wage earners and to boost the minimum wage. A few members took shots at each other as well.

A Democratic official said the caucus was also still waiting for a signal from Gov. Jennifer Granholm on whether she will support the proposal. A spokesperson for Granholm said that the administration is studying the proposal, but will not support any proposal that transfers tax costs to individuals or forces them to endure more budget cuts.

The Senate acted as the House Tax Policy Committee approved their parts of the seven-bill package. Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) said he was proud of the Senate acting as it did at a critical time in state economic history.

“There is a major economic restructuring occurring not only in this state but across the country,” he said, and as the Senate acted, major companies such as General Motors, Ford and Delphi were making decisions on which plants to close and which workers to lay off,?? he said. “This is a competitive, real world we are involved in,” Sikkema said, referring to efforts by other states to ensure that major plants either stayed in or were built in their states.

And while he recognized that tax cuts long term could have an effect on the state’s budget, Sikkema said he was clear in his mind that the state’s priority had to be to bring jobs into Michigan. Legislators in other states trying to acquire the plants will not quibble over the budgets there, he said.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Emerson (D-Flint) agreed that the state needed to provide tax relief to its largest manufacturers, but that the poor needed help as well. He had sponsored an amendment that would have tie-barred the main bill, SB 909, to creation of an earned income tax credit.

The bills “do nothing to help those people that need help just as much as our companies do,” he said. Emerson was the only Senate member to vote against SB 909 and SB 910.

He and other Democrats also criticized Republicans for cutting down a personal property tax credit of 35 percent that Granholm had proposed back in January.

But Sen. Nancy Cassis (R-Novi) charged the governor’s original plan was a “shift and shaft” – because it called for a tax increase on insurance companies – that would have led to her true agenda of “tax and spend and spend and tax.”

SB 203 extends a current tax cut granted both Delphi and Visteon. Delphi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.

SB 210 authorizes the state to grant a 100 percent credit on personal property taxes paid for by a company bringing jobs into the state during 2007 and 2008. While the bill could apply to any company, it is seen mostly as a way of convincing Delphi to keep its plants in Michigan open and move plants into the state.

The main bill, SB 909, grants companies a 15 percent credit on a company’s personal property taxes paid. The legislation is similar to a bill signed by Granholm last month, but which did not take effect because it was tied to two bills she vetoed.

Those bills were all part of a package that included a jobs program as well as an SBT cut. But the agreement fell apart over the question of whether a 2009 sunset on the SBT was to be abolished. Granholm found she could still sign the jobs portion of the package.

In reaction, the SBT proposal to boost the personal property tax portion was proposed by the Republican leaders with the plan to put the bills before Granholm this month. The leaders have said Granholm should have no difficulty with the bills since she either signed or has supported them in concept. The measures are all tie-barred to each other.

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