Let’s Eliminate University Tax Exemptions in Michigan

The city of Ann Arbor is, if not reeling, pretty darn worried about the University of Michigan’s recent purchase of the Pfizer property there, and the impact on Ann Arbor’s property tax base.

See Arbor Update for an extensive discussion of the issue.

Let’s deal with the problem at the source: let’s eliminate the tax exemptions for universities. Whatever the original logic of the policy, it makes little sense in a world where the U of M has a $7 billion endowment, and it builds in a set of perverse incentives for distorted cost accounting.

Apparently it would require amending the Michigan Constitution, which can be done by a legislative supermajority or by proposition: can anyone fill in the details?

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