By Mike Turner
March/April 2011
As he leads visitors into his office in the Romney Building across from the state Capitol in Lansing, Gov. Rick Snyder explains that he is not completely settled in. He points to framed photographs that still sit on ledges, waiting to be hung on the walls.
But even if he were to receive an “incomplete” in office decorating since becoming governor in January, Snyder would earn high marks from Michigan’s business community, which has generally praised his economic, budget and tax proposals.
“Gov. Snyder is extremely prepared, thorough, straightforward and very considerate of all the issues,” says Chris Fisher, president of Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan. “He’s a fiscal hawk, and he’s surrounded himself with experts who mean business. We know where they stand and what to expect, and we know that they’re serious. It’s refreshing to see a professional team that’s ready to do whatever it takes to get Michigan back on track.”
For his part, Snyder has a message for Michigan businesses: “Their success is the key, because government doesn’t create jobs,” he says. “It creates the environment where jobs can flourish, and that’s what we’re doing with the reinvention that we’re talking about.”
And Snyder believes he took a first step toward reinventing Michigan’s economy with the tax and budget proposal he unveiled in February.
“Fundamentally, we’ve had a broken tax and budget system in our state for a long time. And so, the way I view it and I hope everyone will view it that way, is this (tax and budget proposal) is about the big picture, about a fundamental opportunity to reset how we do tax and budgeting in our state,” he says.
“There are better ways of doing things. If you had a new state and you had a clean sheet, how would you design a tax and budget system in terms of major reforms? We didn’t address everything in this. There are still areas that need help, like personal property taxes — they’re primarily at the local level. But I’m very proud of what we put together; it can really make a difference for Michigan’s future.”