2005 House Bill 5097 / Public Act 228

Eliminate certain commercial rentals assessment cap

Introduced in the House

Aug. 17, 2005

Introduced by Rep. Fulton Sheen (R-88)

To eliminate a cap on the maximum amount that property tax assessors can raise the assessment of commercial rental property due to a higher occupancy rate, if the assessment had been previously lowered as a result of a lower occupancy rate. A recent Supreme Court ruling held that raising these assessments faster than inflation violates the Constitutional tax cap put in place by Proposal A in 1994, which limits assessment increases to five percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. The bill gets around this by replacing the property tax on commercial rental property with an identical “specific tax” proposed in House Bill 5096.

Referred to the Committee on Tax Policy

Aug. 31, 2005

Reported without amendment

With the recommendation that the substitute (H-2) be adopted and that the bill then pass.

Substitute offered

To replace the previous version of the bill with one that revises details but does not change the substance of the bill as previously described.

The substitute passed by voice vote

Amendment offered by Rep. Fulton Sheen (R-88)

To tie-bar the bill to the other business tax cut and tax exemption repeal bills in the package, meaning this bill cannot become law unless those ones do also. Specifically, these are House Bills 4972, 4973, 4980, 5096, 5097, 5098, 5106, 5107, and 5108.

The amendment passed by voice vote

Passed in the House 57 to 50 (details)

Received in the Senate

Sept. 6, 2005

Referred to the Committee on Finance

Oct. 25, 2005

Substitute offered

To replace the previous version of the bill with one that makes it part of a business tax cut proposal offered by Sen. Majority Leader Ken Sikkema as an alternative to a <a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=173410">larger tax cut passed by the House</a>. This is linked to <a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/2005-SB-633">Senate Bill 633</a>, which would cut the SBT rate from 1.9 percent to 1.84 percent.

The substitute passed by voice vote

Passed in the Senate 20 to 17 (details)

To eliminate a cap on the maximum amount that property tax assessors can raise the assessment of commercial rental property due to a higher occupancy rate, if the assessment had been previously lowered as a result of a lower occupancy rate. A recent Supreme Court ruling held that raising these assessments faster than inflation violates the Constitutional tax cap put in place by Proposal A in 1994, which limits assessment increases to five percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. The bill gets around this by replacing the property tax on commercial rental property with an identical “specific tax” proposed in House Bill 5096.

Received in the House

Oct. 25, 2005

Nov. 10, 2005

Substitute offered by Rep. Fulton Sheen (R-88)

To replace the previous version of the bill with one that reflects the agreement struck between Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Republican legislative leaders to adopt modest business tax cuts and a scaled-down "21st Century Jobs Fund".

The substitute passed by voice vote

Amendment offered by Rep. Fulton Sheen (R-88)

To not link the bill to Senate Bill 634, which would eliminate the weighting or apportionment of in-state payroll and property in the formula used to calculate a firm's Single Business Tax liability, and base the liability 100 percent on sales.

The amendment passed by voice vote

Passed in the House 58 to 47 (details)

To adopt a version of the commercial rental property assessment cap legislation with minor changes reflecting the agreement struck between Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Republican legislative leaders to adopt modest business tax cuts and a scaled-down "21st Century Jobs Fund." See <a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=176636">Senate Bill 633</a> and <a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=176597">House Bill 5047</a>.

Received in the Senate

Nov. 10, 2005

Passed in the Senate 23 to 15 (details)

Signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm

Nov. 21, 2005