Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) said Thursday that he will roll out plans soon to roll back real estate and property taxes on homeowners and businesses without cutting funds for schools and local governments in the state.
He said high property taxes are contributing to an affordable housing emergency that is affecting young families looking for homes as well as seniors who want to stay in their homes or cannot downsize because a smaller home would come with a tax increase.
“We’ll have to come up with a more-fair way to fund schools and local government,” Hall said in his weekly press conference. ”We’ll have to do that because we want to continue to make record investments in schools and local governments. We’ll come up with different ways to get the funding for local governments and schools.”
Hall said rolling back the tax on equipment and technology improvements would encourage privately owned utilities to invest more in improving services.
“We’re also going to give a major incentive for more innovation and investment in our grid, our energy grid, and we need that,” he said. “We need a much more reliable, robust energy grid.”
The House Republican leader wants to one-up tax cut plans from Governor Gretchen Whitmer and legislative Democrats. Whitmer has called for a more modest property tax break for seniors in her new budget proposal, which does not nearly match the scope and cost of Hall’s concept.
Hall estimated a combined rollback of roughly $4 billion by eliminating the 6-mill property tax that funds K-through-12 schools, the real estate transfer tax, and “pop up” increase in the taxable value when a property is sold or transferred. He said that would save the typical Michigan homeowner about $900 a year.
The House GOP plan comes as Whitmer is about to deliver her eighth and final State of the State address next week. She has said affordability is a key concern heading into 2026.
