LANSING – Rep. Brian Calley (R-Portland), who worked on a workgroup developing the new Michigan Business Tax, said Friday that if the expiring Single Business Tax is an example, modifications to the new business tax structure will continue on forever into the future as industries and policies change.

Speaking on Michigan Public Television’s “Off the Record,” Calley said while the Legislature is considering some MBT revisions (at this point mostly dealing with how deferred liabilities are treated under the tax), lawmakers just approved a change to the current SBT, which was crafted in the 1970s, and so it could be expected more MBT changes will occur throughout the years.

Calley said he didn’t know at this point whether assertions by business groups that the MBT will bring in more revenues to the state than the SBT are true, but he did say the unitary filing requirements that are new under the MBT will be the lynchpin to whether that is fact or fiction. But the state won’t know that for another year or two when filings start coming in, so it’s proper to have a repeat in place in case revenues come in higher than expected, Calley said.

The first-term lawmaker, who introduced HJR R that would extend term limits to six terms in the House and three in the Senate, said there is a “great possibility” a term limit proposal will get on a ballot in 2008. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce is proposing a term limit proposal.

Calley said voters likely will more most receptive to a term limit proposal that would effect lawmakers first elected in 2008, that way current elected officials won’t be viewed as looking out for their self interest. He said the “spectacle of state government” is showing the voters the current system is not working well.

He blamed that mostly on having to build relationships with a number of people at a fast rate. While working on the MBT, Calley said he grew to respect and trust House Tax Policy Chair Rep. Steve Bieda (D-Warren) as a friend, but to replicate that with 108 other members of the chamber would take years.

On whether or not he would vote for a tax increase to balance the budget, Calley said he didn’t think the case has been made for one at this point because there are more spending cuts and reforms to do, but that he wouldn’t take it off the table once those are exhausted.

However, he said a revenue hole filled with new taxes did not have to total $2 billion. And he said if a government shutdown occurs it will be purely for political reasons.

Calley also said a proposal to replace the state’s 19 cent gas tax with a sales tax increase for roads is “worth reviewing.”

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