Fiscal Cliff Could Hit Michigan Hard

If federal tax cuts that are under review are not extended, Michigan residents could end up paying the equivalent of double their state income tax rate, according to an analysis by the Tax Foundation.

The Tax Foundation looked at the alternative minimum tax (which includes the child tax credit), the Bush tax cuts (which refers to changes to the tax codes that lowered income tax rates) and the 2 percent tax cut to employee-side social security payroll taxes that all expire at the end of the year.

The tax cuts are part of the so-called “fiscal cliff” debate.

Michigan residents would lose on average 4.63 percent of their income if the tax cuts were lost. The Michigan personal income tax rate is 4.25 percent.

"It's asking Michigan residents to effectively pay their state personal income tax twice and even a little more," said Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

The Tax Foundation’s Nick Kasprak said a Michigan family of four has a median household income of $72,336 and would see a $3,349 tax increase from the various fiscal cliff provisions.

Michigan ranks 37^th out of the 50 states in terms of percentage of income lost to the tax increases.

"This is because Michigan is a middle-income state, and the combined effects of all the fiscal cliff provisions tend to hit low-income (Bush tax cuts are generally a fixed percent of income at low- to mid-part of the income scale) and high-income (the AMT hits upper middle income families) states hardest. States in the middle not as much,” Kasprak said.

President Barack Obama has said he wants to extend the Bush tax cuts to all but the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.