LANSING – New polling released late last week from Lake Effect found that 68% of Michigan residents support taking legislative action to end the “dark stores” tax loophole, which allows big box stores to have their taxes assessed as if their property is a vacant “dark store” even if it’s fully operational.

The result is much lower property taxes for these profitable stores, saving retail giants hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade; meanwhile, local governments have been forced to scramble to make up for the lost tax revenue, which is used to fund parks, libraries, and other municipal services.

“Outdated economic development philosophies claim that tax cuts are the only path to achieve growth, but that’s just smoke and mirrors meant to obscure the gobs of money these huge box stores are making,”  said Fund MI Future Executive Director MoReno Taylor II. “Voters consistently tell us that they deeply care about funding education, infrastructure, mental health, child care, and other critical public services. What Michiganders don’t want are more revenue giveaways to the wealthy and their lobbyists.”

Taylor pointed out that 68% of respondents also support having corporations pay their fair share in taxes, and 93% support requiring corporations that cause toxic contamination to pay to clean up their pollution rather than taxpayers footing the bill. Eighty-five percent support reinstating Michigan’s robust polluter pay laws, which were dismantled in the mid-1990s during the administration of former Governor John Engler.

With a trifecta of Democratic leadership in power, Michigan finally has a chance to enact policies that help level the playing field after decades of GOP-led disinvestment, Taylor added. The dark stores tax loophole, he said, is a good example of politicians putting profits over people. 

In Houghton, Walmart essentially pushed to sacrifice public programs paid for by local tax revenue when it asked for a 60 percent reduction in its property taxes. Houghton City Manager Eric Waara has filed a suit against Walmart in federal court in an effort to prevent devastating cuts to programs for seniors, veterans, schools, and more. The Michigan Tax Tribunal will decide whether Walmart will get a retroactive $1.2 million tax refund on June 5.

“Houghton is a city of only 8,000 people,” said Audrey Gerard, a Houghton County resident and Organizer at Michigan United. “And yet Walmart, a massively profitable, multibillion-dollar global retailer, is fighting tooth and nail to get out of paying its fair share to a small town that rolled out the red carpet for them when they first set up shop. It’s a disgrace and a betrayal of the community that Walmart claims it wants to serve.”

Fund MI Future is a joint effort of community organizations, unions of working people, and policy experts. FMF is working to create shared prosperity for all Michiganders by fully and fairly funding our public services like schools, roads, and clean water.

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