Last Thursday, Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed a bill proposing a tax exemption for broadband internet equipment for qualified businesses. MLive reported this is the second measure related to broadband that Whitmer has denied; last month, she vetoed legislation, saying that internet speed requirements were too low, and the cost was too high.
Senate President Pro Tempore Aric Nesbett sponsored the denied Senate Bill 46. He said of the veto, “Unfortunately, Governor Whitmer again vetoed legislation to expand high-speed internet access. We accommodated her request for faster speeds, but now there are new excuses while hundreds of thousands of Michiganders still lack adequate service.”
High-speed internet access is a priority for the governor, according to her administration. MLive reported that $20 million in grants for the Connecting Michigan Communities program is available, but the proposed bill stopped short of making it accessible for everyone in the state.
Whitmer commented on several accessibility gaps within the measure, including:
- Not focusing on serving tribal and minority communities, among those who would receive tax relief.
- Creating a tax exemption for equipment as a solution to a lack of broadband service, but not generating a way for assessors to determine what equipment would be eligible.
According to Michigan’s Senate Fiscal Agency, the vetoed bills would reduce property tax revenue to the state by an unknown amount, depending on the specific characteristics of equipment exempted by the bill and the businesses that owned the equipment. The agency reported that the tax exemption was unlikely to expand access or add new subscribers. According to the agency, approximately one-third of households that do not subscribe to broadband service claim it’s too expensive.
The Senate Fiscal Agency noted, “Assuming any tax savings were passed on to consumers, the property tax exemption under the bill would be unlikely to lower prices sufficiently to entice those who do not subscribe for cost reasons to join, given that broadband in Michigan is more affordable than the national average and compared to the cost of the acquisition, maintenance and operational costs of the equipment.”
Whitmer said she plans to work with the legislature on a bill using the American Rescue Plan funds to improve broadband in the state. The federal plan included $10 billion in funding for broadband projects, reported MLive.
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