LANSING — Today, House Bill 4006, which would eliminate the damaging retirement tax passed in 2011, was voted out of the House Committee on Tax Policy. The bill would also restore the senior investment deduction for those 65 and older born after 1945. During committee, Rep. Isaac Robinson (D-Detroit), supported an amendment to hold the School Aid Fund harmless and a motion to refer the bill to the Appropriations committee to resolve the impact in funding the bill will have, yet both were voted down.  The bill was ultimately referred to the Ways and Means committee. In response to his objection to the bill’s referral to the Ways and Means committee and his subsequent no vote Rep. Robinson, issued the following statement:

“Tackling the retirement tax was one of my top priorities coming into office, so I am grateful my colleagues share my desire to address this quickly. I fully support House Bill 4006, and I am encouraged by the bipartisan support. Seniors on fixed incomes need to be able to keep more of their money to live comfortably and make sure all of their needs are met. Gov. Snyder’s pension tax is hurting their ability to do so.

“I am deeply committed to eliminating this regressive tax; however, I do have some concerns on the impact of the bill. I wasn’t elected to do a sloppy job tackling these large-scale problems — I want to get this done right.  I agree with Gov. Whitmer, the concept of this bill is good policy and the right thing to do, but we need to do it the right way and go through the budget process. That being said I will continue fighting for the financial security of our seniors and ensuring our children continue to have bright futures, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that this bill is passed.”