Time for a change

by Larry Meyer
MRA Chairman and CEO

Last month I announced MRA’s endorsement of Dick DeVos in the upcoming governor’s race, giving the general outline of our reasons. This month I will turn to specific issues to explain the Association’s clear desire for a change in the governor’s office.

Granholm and DeVos agree that the Single Business Tax is problematic and that business taxes must be restructured to be fairer. The differences are tactical—what’s the best way to generate ideas for replacing that revenue?

The current administration would have us wait to scrap the flawed SBT until the legislature hammers out a replacement revenue source—probably a fairer business tax structure that doesn’t penalize struggling businesses. The GOP approach, which MRA prefers, is to spur those efforts by dropping the SBT tax sooner—in 2007—instead of 2009, when it is set to expire.

Turning to the technology front: the Granholm administration claims to view new technology as critical to solving the state’s job woes. Why, then, does it cling to an ancient, high-burden, low-tech regulation requiring every item in a retail store to bear a price sticker—a pricing system all other states dropped years ago on general merchandise, in favor of systems that employ higher technology?

We’re told her support of Michigan’s outdated item-pricing law is a matter of consumer protection. But MRA’s pricing modernization reform bill, sponsored by Rep. Hildenbrand (R-Lowell), would benefit retailers and ensure improved scanner accuracy—a benefit to consumers.

This resistance is another example of the narrow special interests the current administration caters to and the influence of labor in this state. Labor unions are the strongest special interest group opposing the pricing modernization bill.

A recent Granholm initiative, called MI-PC, would help get computers into more households, especially those in which having access to computer technology could provide an important leg up. This could be a great idea.

But the initiative of the program shows the current administration’s blind spot when it comes to our industry. The implementation will affect retailers, who will be involved in selling and distributing these computers, but the team working on the plan never approached MRA for insights.

The MI-PC plan picks winners and losers. The winners are the narrow selection of large retailers who will get business through the state. The losers: a number of much smaller retailers who might also have benefited from the business.

Why is MI-PC set up this way? We don’t know. We might know—if the Granholm team had sought our input.

DeVos, by contrast, understands the needs of the business community, starting with the SBT. He understands the need for regulatory reform.

Most of all, DeVos is a seasoned business leader—just the person to understand the perspective of business owners like MRA members.

For these reasons and more, DeVos is MRA’s clear choice in November.