LANSING – Petitions to gather signatures to repeal the newly enacted Michigan sales tax on services are being printed and should be ready for distribution in another week. Even as a possible compromise to repeal the tax before it takes effect on December 1 is studied, opponents of the tax are preparing to circulate petitions for an initiated act to go on the November 2008 ballot to repeal the tax.

Meanwhile, the Department of Treasury announced Friday it had put up a web site that will provide information businesses can use to see if they would be subject to the new services tax.

The web site Michigan.Gov/Taxchanges includes information on newly enacted Michigan Business Tax and the increase to the income tax.

With tight deadlines facing the state and businesses before the new tax takes effect, the website will help businesses determine if they are affected by the tax and how to file payments under the tax.

This week, business officials began studying a proposal compromise that would eliminate the services tax by creating a surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax. The surcharge would be applied to a company’s tax before it reduced the tax with credits, would total between 20 and 25 percent and apply to companies with annual gross sales of more than $18 million.

If officials signal they accept the proposal, it could begin moving in the Senate in the next two weeks.

But business officials have said all along they are going to run a two-track strategy to eliminate the tax: through legislation and through a petition drive.

Todd Anderson of the Small Business Association of Michigan said Friday that business groups have agreed on language for a petition drive – language that would simply repeal the tax – and are now in the process of printing approximately 100,000 petitions.

Until legislation repealing the tax is signed, businesses intend to distribute the petitions, Mr. Anderson said. More petitions will likely be needed to ensure the measure would get on the ballot – although the Legislature could also pass the initiative if it gets sufficient signatures – Anderson said.

To win a spot on the ballot, the petitions would have to be signed by a minimum of 304,101 registered voters. Circulators have roughly 180 days to collect the needed signatures and the deadline for submitting the signatures is May 28, 2008.

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