Bulletins
On November 6 a bi-partisan coalition in the House easily overrode President George W. Bush’s veto of a bill that authorizes high-profile projects in Michigan. The Senate is expected to follow suit November 8. The House override vote was 361-54, with all 15 Michigan members, including nine Republicans, breaking with
President Bush announced his long anticipated veto of legislation to authorize $23 billion for projects aimed at improving navigation, flood control, environmental restoration, water supply and storm damage reduction. The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), H.R. 1495, would also provide some funding for water, wastewater and combined sewer overflow projects.
There has been significant discussion in recent days regarding the repeal of the new sales tax on services and adding an M.B.T. surcharge to offset the loss. As currently being discussed, such a proposal would have a disastrous effect on the entire construction industry. According to various reports, the added
This week Gov. Granholm signed the state transportation budget, after a month-long delay because of wrangling over general fund tax increases. As predicted by MITA over the past year, the state road and bridge program will see a sizeable $300 million – or 18 percent – cut due to lack
Since the passage of the new Michigan Business Tax, many in the heavy construction industry have asked whether their construction equipment should be classified as industrial or commercial for purposes of personal property taxes and credits. The State Tax Commission recently provided some clarification in this area. Click here to download
Now that the much-debated income tax and sales tax on services are in place, the Legislature and governor are quickly working to finalize the FY 2008 budget by the October 31st deadline. Because the Transportation budget is based off gas tax and vehicle registration revenues, there is little discretion in
MITA has been consistently opposed to cities applying local hiring preferences and will continue to strongly oppose those types of local ordinances. The following is an update on recent local preference issues in Detroit and Lansing. City of Detroit On November 1, 2007, executive order 2007-1, “Utilization of Detroit Residents
Creating a new sales tax on services after midnight has its drawbacks. In the dead of night last weekend, legislators passed a plan to put a sales tax on some services. Included in the new tax were various “consulting” services and “landscaping” services. At the same time, policymakers exempted construction
Most of you have received a notice from the Operating Engineers Local 324 relative to allocating three cents ($.03) per hour from the Labor Management Committee to the Retiree Benefit Fund. This re-allocation has been approved by the Trustees and you will be issued new report forms for the work
State government is open for business after lawmakers gave Governor Granholm what she wanted this morning to call off a shutdown. After the Senate early this morning passed a sales tax expansion, Granholm ordered state employees to work, ending a brief halt in services that began at 12:01 a.m. today.
Details Emerge on What is a “Taxable Service” The construction industry dodged a major bullet this week during the state’s budget negotiations. All the way up to the 11th hour, the Legislature and governor were discussing adding a sales tax to a range of services. The industry that could have
MITA informed contractors in a bulletin last week about the possibility of a state government shutdown. MITA continues to hear rumors that legislators will avoid the situation by passing a temporary continuation budget. Nonetheless, MITA believes it is important that contractors begin preparing for the possibility of a shutdown. Earlier
