A proposed constitutional amendment to boost school funding by taxing wealthy residents more is gathering signatures despite its petition language being held up by a state panel.
The Board of State Canvassers approved the group’s petition language at its June 27 meeting, members cited procedural issues when it rescinded the approval, forcing the group to go back to fight the language’s approval. Both Democratic board members approved the language, while Republicans, Board Chair Richard Houskamp and Canvasser Paul Cordes, argued the petition language should be changed.
“There were people in the room who are scared to see this happen because it will impact them,” says Imani Foster, one of the leaders of 482 Forward, the nonprofit behind the effort. “Approval was rescinded apparently due to the Board of Canvassers not letting someone from the opposition speak.”
The group went back to the state panel on July 31, where board members were deadlocked on the approval of the petition language following concerns over whether the proposal can ensure funds are used specifically for schools.
The ballot effort’s language is as follows: A constitutional amendment to add beginning in 2027 an additional 5% tax on annual taxable income, over $1 million for joint filers and over $500,000 for single filers. The tax is in addition to existing state income taxes and is to be deposited into the state school aid fund and required to be used exclusively on local school district classrooms, career and technical education, reducing class sizes and recruiting and retaining teachers, and subject funds to annual audits.
The Detroit Regional Chamber and other statewide business groups showed up to the meetings to oppose the effort.
“This proposal represents a significant tax hike that would more than double the income tax rate for many job creators, including tens of thousands of small businesses that pay business taxes through individual income tax returns,” the chamber said in a statement. “The Chamber is deeply concerned that this measure would rewrite Michigan’s tax code in a way that damages the state’s economic competitiveness.”
Foster refutes the claim from opposition groups that their proposal would hurt small businesses, saying the average small business owner makes around $212,000, well below the $500,000 threshold.
This month, attorneys for the Coalition to Stop the Business and Family Tax Hike sent a cease and desist to attorneys for Invest in MI Kids, claiming the board’s walk back of the petition language meant the petition signatures gathered are invalid.
“Their choice to proceed with circulation anyway is unfair to those who sign the petition, but that unfairness is knowing and willful by the circulators and may not be weaponized later to curry favor with the Board or the courts,” attorneys wrote in the letter. “TO BE ABUNDANTLY CLEAR: please be advised now, before your client has gathered those signatures, and while there’s still more than ample time to bring the petition into compliance with the law, that (a) the 100 word summary now in the field remains subject to challenge before the Board because it lacks approval.”
Foster says the group is confident it the approval language currently being circulated by petitioners will be approved by the state board, and if not, the Michigan Supreme Court.
She says voters have been eager to sign.
“People see my shirt that says, ‘Fund schools, tax the rich,’ and sign just based off my shirt,” she said.
482 Forward volunteers have been collecting signatures in Detroit, Ferndale and Southfield.
“Our first day collecting signatures was at the Ribs and Soul Fest,” Foster said. “That was so much fun because there were people there from Flint, and all kinds of school districts who can align with Detroit because their districts and a lot of their resources have also been starved.”
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