It was clear during a Wednesday night summit of community leaders that Macomb remains a sharply divided county when it comes to tax-abatement reform. The meeting was called to unify a single message to have the state Legislature do away with a law that allows one city to deny a company approval to move to another town offering a tax abatement. Officials from Warren and Sterling Heights did most of the talking. The speakers carried diverse messages, and most were polite but free of passion. The opinions ranged from short descriptions of the evils of tax abatements to why tax incentives are needed to keep communities strong.
Tax abatements keep jobs.
We grant abatements. We can tweak it but let's don't try to shaft the next guy. Let's make it so people treat each other like they want to be treated. It's about helping each other. The most compelling debate was what to do about a faulty state law that lets communities like Troy block corporate job transfers.