Butcher v. Department of Treasury

The question in this case is whether a 1982 amendment of § 520 of the Income Tax Act, MCL 206.1 et seq.; MSA 7.557(101) et seq., providing that the already existing local property tax credit shall be reduced by ten percent for each thousand dollars of household income in excess of $65,000, is violative of Const 1963, art 9, § 7, which prohibits an income tax graduated as to rate or base. We hold that, because the property tax credit is payable to the property taxpayer irrespective of state income tax liability, an income-graduated reduction in that credit does not conflict with the…