Michigan business, tax climate soars in Tax Foundation ratings, Snyder says

Posted on February 13, 2012

The huge changes in Michigan’s tax structure during 2011 has prompted the Tax Foundation to move the state from 49th in terms of tax climate to 7th.

The announcement came this afternoon from Gov. Rick Snyder, during a speech to the Detroit Economic Club.

“We need to create an environment for private sector jobs to flourish. It starts with balancing budget and tax reform,” Snyder said. “We have a strong state.”

The Tax Foundation released some preliminary numbers, Snyder said, which also showed the state moving from 18th to 12th in terms of the state’s overall business climate. It’s also 7th in terms of the sales tax.

Snyder also noted that the state’s unemployment rate has gone from 14.1% to 9.3% and while the state had a $1.5 billion deficit last year, there is a multi-million-dollar surplus this year.

“We’re improving faster than the rest of the United States,” Snyder said. “More than 80,000 private sector jobs were created last year. We’re making a great comeback there.”