With talk of property tax changes swirling around Lansing, a new report from the University of Michigan highlights the central role that such taxes have in delivering vital county services.
“In FY 2024, counties continue to be the most reliant on property taxes, with 58.8 percent of their general fund revenue coming from this source,” states the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) in its “Fiscal Health of Michigan Local Governments” report. “Since FY 2022, reliance (on property taxes) has declined slightly across most jurisdiction types ― except for counties.” (emphasis added)
By contrast, while townships (39%) and villages (21%) rely notably on revenue sharing payments from the state, the median county only gets 5 percent of its General Fund resources from revenue sharing.
“Michigan local governments continue to exhibit generally stable budgetary solvency, but signs of strain are emerging across both general governmental and enterprise operations,” the report stated.
“Michigan’s system of local service delivery relies on the property tax. MAC’s position has long been that any discussion of property tax changes must be conducted with that fundamental principle in mind,” said MAC Executive Director Stephan Currie.
“We also would highlight for legislators’ attention a couple of additional data points. First, Michigan’s property tax burden is ranked 29th in the country by the Tax Foundation (TF), while TF had Michigan with the fifth-lowest state/local tax burden in 2022,” Currie added.
Learn more at 2026 Legislative Conference
Jared Walczak of the Tax Foundation will speak on Tuesday, April 28 at the Michigan Counties Legislative Conference on property taxes, including his 2025 report, “There’s No Good Way to Pay for Property Tax Repeal.” To register for the conference, click here.