Article IX
Sec. 1: The legislature shall impose taxes sufficient with other resources to pay the expenses of state government. No new tax shall be imposed against the principal homestead of any householder or any new property construction which is designed to be used as a principal homestead.
Sec. 2: The power of taxation
shall neveris granted to the legislature by the people and cannot be surrendered, suspended or contracted away. The legislature shall not impose any new tax nor shall there be any increase in the rate of or any broadening of the base of any tax which was in effect during the calendar year 1978, until such proposed tax or increased tax is first approved by affirmation of the electors voting on the question at the next general election following the passage of the legislation proposing such tax or increased tax.(a) Sixty (60) percent of the votes cast in favor of the question shall constitute affirmation.
Sec. 3: The legislature shall provide for the uniform
generalad valorem taxation of classes of real and tangible personal property not exempt bylawSubsections 9(a), 9(b), 9(f), 9(h), 9(j), 9(k), 9(n) and 9(p), Section 9 of Public Act 206 of 1893, as amended. The legislature shall provide for the determination of true cash value of such property; the proportion of true cash value at which such property shall beuniformlyassessed, which shall not, afterJanuary 1, 1966December 30, 1980, exceed50twenty-five (25) percent of the true cash value on which the state equalized value was established and/or determined for the 1978 tax year; and for a system of equalization of assessments.The legislature may provide for alternative means of taxation of designated real and tangible personal property in lieu of general ad valorem taxation. Every tax other than the general ad valorem property tax shall be uniform upon the class or classes on which it operates.Following ratification of this amendment, 1978 is established as the real property value base year. No property shall simultaneously receive the benefit of this constitutional reduction of the percentage at which such property shall be uniformly assessed, and the benefits granted by Public Acts 116 and 198 of 1974 and Public Act 255 of 1978.(a) The principal homestead of a householder whose total taxable income in any calendar year is greater than $5,000.00 but less than $10,500.00, contemporized from 1980, shall have the ad valorem property tax dollar amount further reduced by one-half, and if such income is less than $5,000.00, such principal homestead shall be totally exempt from any property taxation. The legislature shall implement these provisions commencing with tax year 1981 based on 1980 income and continuing from year to year in similar fashion. The legislature shall enact legislation to grant comparable relief to renters of a principal homestead.
(b) The principal homestead of any householder shall be exempt from that portion of the ad valorem property tax which is school district operating millage beginning the calendar year after the householder’s 62nd birthday. The legislature shall enact legislation to grant comparable relief to renters of a principal homestead.
(c) The legislature shall enact legislation to reimburse units of local government for ad valorem property tax revenues lost each year because of the exemptions provided in Subsections 3(a) and 3(b) of this article.
(d) The legislature shall appropriate for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1982, and each full year thereafter a sum of state matching money equal to one hundred (100) percent of the ad valorem property taxes, excepting those amounts required to fund bonded indebtedness, which are levied by all of the units of local government within the state, and the state treasurer shall return to each of the several county treasurer’s a sum of money equal to one hundred (100) percent of the total ad valorem property taxes, excepting those amounts required to fund bonded indebtedness, which are levied by all of the units of local government within each such county. Each county treasurer shall distribute to each unit of local government within the county a sum of money equal to one hundred (100) percent of the ad valorem property taxes, excepting those amounts required to fund bonded indebtedness, which are levied by each such unit. Units of local government receiving these returned public tax monies shall not be subjected to any conditions, restrictions, regulations or rules of any nature whatsoever by the state, denying or interfering with the right of any unit of local government to use these returned public tax monies as if they were locally received from the local property taxpayers as a result of a property tax levy.
(e) All tax credits, exemptions and/or rebates granted by the state to any Michigan resident for income tax reporting purposes, and including any and all other benefits granted to renters, veterans, eligible servicemen, widows, senior citizens, disabled, blind, low income, retired, paraphlegic and quadriplegic persons by the laws in effect at the time this amendment is ratified, shall not be reduced or diminished unless such provision is first approved by roll call vote of 4/5ths of the members elected to and serving in each house of the legislature.
(f) The provisions of Subsections 3(a), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d), and 3(e) of this article shall be liberally construed and interpreted as conferring exemptions and/or benefits accruing to the citizens of Michigan and are not programs and shall not be further interpreted nor construed as meaning that they are a program or programs nor that the responsibility for funding them as a program or programs is transferred from one level of government to another within the purview of Section 26, Article IX of this constitution. The legislature shall not change, adjust or alter the state school aid formula in effect for fiscal year 1980-81, or any fiscal year thereafter, to diminish or reduce the yield in number of dollars per mill per child in any school district of the state without approval of the governor and consent, by roll call vote, of 4/5ths of the members elected to and serving in each house of the legislature. Payments made under Subsections 3(c) and 3(d) shall not be considered as state spending paid to units of local government within the purview of Section 30, Article IX of this constitution.
Sec. 31: Units of local government are hereby prohibited from levying any tax not authorized by law or charter when this section is ratified or from increasing the rate of an existing tax above that rate authorized by law or charter when this section is ratified, without the approval of a majority of the qualified electors of that unit of local government voting thereon. If the definition of the base of an existing tax is broadened, the maximum authorized rate of taxation on the new base in each unit of local government shall be reduced to yield the same estimated gross revenue as on the prior base.
If the assessed valuation of property as finally equalized, excluding the value of new construction and improvements, increases by a larger percentage than the increase in the General Price Level from the previous year, the maximum authorized rate applied thereto in each unit of Local Government shall be reduced to yield the same gross revenue from existing property, adjusted for changes in the General Price Level, as could have been collected at the existing authorized rate on the prior assessed value.¶The assessed value of all real and tangible personal property, as finally equalized for the 1978 tax year pursuant to Section 3 of this article, may reflect from year to year commencing December 31, 1981, an inflationary increase which shall not exceed in any one year the general price level from the previous year except that any increase on property of the residential and agricultural classes shall not exceed 2.0 percent in any one year. All new property construction and additions to existing property shall be assessed to reflect the true cash value equal to but not exceeding the value of such new or added construction as if the value had been established for the 1978 tax year and as if it had been entered upon the tax roll for the 1978 tax year and subjected to the inflationary increases allowed in this section. The limitations of this section shall not apply to taxes imposed for the payment of principal and interest on bonds or other evidence of indebtedness or for the payment of assessmentsonor contract obligations in anticipation of which bonds are issued which were authorized prior to the effective date of this amendment.Sec. 33: Definitions. The definitions of this section shall apply to Section 25 through 32 of Article IX, inclusive.
“Total State Revenues” includes all general and special revenues, excluding federal aid, as defined in the budget message of the governor for fiscal year 1978-1979. Total State Revenues shall exclude the amount of any credits based on actual tax liabilities or the imputed tax components of rental payments, but shall include the amount of any credits not related to actual tax liabilities. “Personal Income of Michigan” is the total income received by persons in Michigan from all sources, as defined and officially reported by the United States Department of Commerce or its successor agency. “Local Government” means any political subdivision of the state, including, but not restricted to, school districts, cities, villages, townships, charter townships, counties, charter counties, authorities created by the state, and authorities created by other units of local government. “General Price Level” means the Consumer Price Index for the United States as defined and officially reported by the United States Department of Labor or its successor agency.
(a) Definitions. The definitions of this subsection and the definition of “Local Government” contained in Section 33 of this article shall apply to Article IX of this constitution. “Principal Homestead” means a dwelling, a unit in a multiple unit dwelling, or the strictly residential portions of a multipurpose building or structure, situated on and together with a land parcel not exceeding one (1) acre in size that is occupied by a Michigan resident householder for not less than 183 days during the calendar year. “Householder” means any natural person and/or his or her spouse, a resident of Michigan, who owns, rents or leases a homestead. “Contemporized” when referring to income or value means a fixed sum of money stated as of the stipulated base year and adjusted annually by the Consumer Price Index for the United States as defined and officially reported by the United States Department of Labor or its successor agency, and the product of such adjustments shall result in a value which shall have the same purchasing power in each succeeding year. “Total Taxable Income” shall mean the adjusted gross income as defined by the United States internal revenue code. “Agricultural” means parcels of agricultural land with or without buildings, the tillable portions of which are principally in use for the production of any food, fuel or fiber product useful for human or domestic animal consumption. “Tax” means any money collected by the state or any unit of local government to pay for any service or product performed or produced by the state or any unit of local government and shall be interpreted and construed as including any fee, levy, user charge, special assessment, license, permit, weight or volume tax or any imposition of any nature whatsoever to include appropriation to meet deficiencies in state funds. “New Tax” means any tax not devised, specified, indentified or titled and which is not in effect when this amendment is adopted.
(b) If any section, subsection or part thereof is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining sections and subsections or parts shall not be affected but will remain in full force and effect.
