LANSING, MI -- One of the most critical components of the phase-out of the personal property tax under Proposal 1 is to make sure local communities receive the same amount of funding they currently get for essential services.
Most communities get some money from the tax, which businesses pay on equipment and machinery. Dearborn, which has heavy manufacturing, gets a good chunk -- 17 percent -- from the PPT. Other communities get most of their property taxes from the PPT, including Carson City, which receives 70 percent from the PPT, and Riverton Township, 69 percent.
Related:
• Database: How much does your community relies on the PPT?
• Video: Understand Proposal 1 in under 4 minutes
• Quiz: Do you support or reject Proposal 1 changes?
• Voter guide: A customizable tool to help you in the voting booth Aug. 5
How much does your community rely on the tax? It depends largely on how many manufacturing and businesses exist in your community. Below is a database that shows how much your community relies on the personal property tax.
If approved by voters, Proposal 1 would gradually eliminate the PPT on businesses and replace that revenue with a new assessment on industry and use tax revenue largely collected on purchases made outside of Michigan. The revenue would stabilize essential services like police and fire for communities that are struggling to maintain their service levels.
You can search either by county or community. The data is from 2010, the most recent available. It was collected by the Michigan Municipal Leauge.
You will see the community, the county, type of government and the percent of its property tax base that comes from the PPT. If you hit the details button next to community, you can see the community's dollars from property tax overall and how much the personal property tax contributes to that.
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The Michigan Citizens for Strong and Safe Communities coalition also has a calculator that projects how each community may be affected if the ballot issue goes down.
The calculator takes the PPT revenue collected by each community in 2010 and translates that in terms of how many police officers, or firefighters or Meals on Wheels would be cut if the ballot proposal fails and no replacement money is forthcoming.
“Some fear the potential loss of PPT revenues without replacement could happen as early as the lame-duck session this fall. The calculator illustrates how devastating a failure to replace that lost revenue would be,” said Kelly Rossman-McKinney, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and principal of Truscott Rossman, the advocacy firm hired by Strong and Safe Communities.
To search, you will need to include a name and e-mail address where you'll be sent a reminder to vote on the ballot issue.
Read stories from across Michigan:
- Ann Arbor:
- Bay County business leaders talk Proposal 1 and personal property tax
- Saginaw County businesses, restaurants, government unite in favor of Proposal 1
- Genesee County community, business leaders favor Proposal 1 to phase out personal property tax
- Jackson area business leaders applaud proposal that eliminates 'disincentive to invest'
- 'No Plan B': Muskegon area businesses, government support Proposal 1 tax plan
- Kalamazoo-area government, business leaders urge passage on Proposal 1, but unanswered questions remain
- Proposal 1 popular among Metro Detroit leaders, but one outspoken mayor calls it a gamble
- Grand Rapids:
Fritz Klug is a news buzz reporter for MLive. Contact him at fklug@mlive.com or 269-370-0584. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.