A business tax decision by the Michigan Supreme Court is threatening to blow a billion-dollar hole in the state budget.
As The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta reports, budget officials hope the court will reconsider the decision.
The decision says the state followed the wrong rules when it calculated business tax refunds. And the liability could top a billion dollars.
Kurt Weiss is with the state budget office. He says that would be almost a tenth of Michigan’s general fund budget.
“Obviously, a billion dollars is a big number, and we’re not going to have enough extra revenue to cover that,” he says.
The case was decided on a slim four-to-three vote. But it is very unusual for the state Supreme Court to reconsider a case. Legislative leaders say lawmakers may have to step in with a fix if the court won’t.