MI Senate Approves Tax Plan Including $180 Inflation Relief Check

MICHIGAN — Michigan taxpayers are closer to getting a $180 inflation relief check after the state Senate on Thursday approved a tax plan supported by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The vote, however, was along party lines (20-17), meaning Democrats failed to get enough Republican votes in favor of the measure for it to take immediate effect when Whitmer likely signs the bill.

Without a two-thirds vote in the Senate, the bills would not take effect until after the end of the year's session. In other words, Michiganders wouldn't see the checks this year.

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said Democrats plan to hold another vote before sending the measure to Whitmer.

"We’ll give them another opportunity to make that a reality for the families that need it the most," Brinks told reporters.

Brinks also proposed changing the Senate's rules to call for a definitive roll call vote on the measure, basically a voice vote that could get them enough votes for the measure to take immediate effect.

The Senate didn't take up the proposal Thursday and it's unclear if Democrats have the votes to enact the rules change.

Democratic lawmakers said the tax proposal would roll back income taxes on retirement income and expand the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit five-fold, in addition to the $180 inflation relief check. They called the proposal "historic" and the largest tax cut in decades.

Republicans, on the other hand, attacked the proposal, calling it a "tax hike" and the one-time inflation relief check as a "sham." They also largely opposed the pension tax repeal plan, claiming it wouldn't cover all types of retirement income.

The $180 checks would cost the state $800 million from its $9.2 billion surplus. Married couples who file their taxes jointly will only receive one inflation relief check, which means $90 each.