DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 11-19-07 A 9 CDB 11/16/2007 11:51 AM Page 1 November 19, 2007 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page 9 6% solution levies 100% tax on patience of biz LANSING — Once again, tions and utility compa- Sarah Hubbard, vice president 20, to find an equitable solution,” Garavaglia, Cox’s director of legisla- decisions on major tax poli- nies — are elements that of government relations at the De- said Charlie Owens, NFIB-Michi- tive affairs, who is being promoted cy are coming down to the have come under fire. troit Regional Chamber, one of the gan director. to chief administrative officer. John wire. And it’s making busi- Last week the chair- backers of HB 5408 in its current But the Detroit chamber and oth- Dakmak, a section head in Cox’s nesses nervous. woman of the Senate Fi- form, said the chamber would ers have cited compliance costs as- criminal division, will become di- Action to repeal and re- nance Committee, Nancy need to see what such a proposal is sociated with the tax — a Detroit rector of legislative affairs. place Michigan’s 6 percent Cassis, R-Novi, and mem- before commenting on support. chamber estimate last week pegged ■ Angela Madden, former govern- tax on services remains a bers of the business com- “What we want is something the costs at $906 million — and they ment affairs assistant at Arling- possibility this week. But munity expressed concern governor will sign,” she said. say each day of delay is costly. ton, Va.-based American Waterways as of press time Friday, it about cap’s helping select- The National Federation of Indepen- Operators, a trade association for appeared more likely that ed large businesses and dent Business-Michigan and some the U.S. tugboat, towboat and it would be the final week CAPITOL BRIEFINGS pushing a greater burden other members of the business Comings & goings barge industry, has become direc- of November before law- Amy Lane on small and medium-size community encouraged lawmakers ■ Stu Sandler, director of external tor of legislative and political af- makers vote — just days businesses. to push back the effective date of affairs for Michigan Attorney Gen- fairs for the Michigan Beer & Wine before the Dec. 1 start of the tax. Some said the cap should be elim- the tax, as proposed in one bill, to eral Mike Cox, has become deputy Wholesalers Association. She fills a “That’s the same kind of last- inated; another direction lawmak- allow more time to craft a solution. director of the Republican Jewish new position. minute situation that led to the ser- ers may head is to lower the sur- “We do support extending the Coalition in Washington. Assuming Amy Lane: (517) 371-5355, alane vice tax in the first place,” said charge and impose a higher cap. implementation date to December some of Sandler’s duties is Mike @crain.com Matt Resch, spokesman for the Ax the Tax Coalition, a group fighting for the tax’s repeal. “We’re still hopeful that they’ll be able to repeal this be- fore December 1. But the fact that they leave this up to the last minute just leaves it up in the air.” Last Thursday, the Senate Fi- nance Committee heard four hours of testimony on the service tax and on a House-passed bill that would repeal the tax and impose a sur- charge on the Michigan Business Tax to make up the revenue. But House Bill 5408 had not formally been referred to Senate Finance, so the committee could not act on it. The bill remains on the floor of the Senate, which is tentatively scheduled to come back into ses- sion Tuesday. Matt Marsden, press secretary to Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, said he ex- pects a House-Senate work group to continue meeting on the issue. He said Bishop wants to resolve the issue before the tax starts but also wants to come up with the best possible solution. “We understand that businesses are under a deadline,” Marsden said. “We want to make sure that whatever the resolution is, that it is sound fiscal policy and that we take the time necessary to make this happen.” Marsden said Bishop has con- cerns over the size of the sur- charge in the House-passed bill — a 32.9 percent levy in 2008 that would drop to 27.3 percent in 2009 — and also would like legislation to include a provision specifying a date that the surcharge would end. The size of the surcharge and the fact that it would be capped at $2 million for each taxpaying busi- ness — helping about 30 large re- tail, manufacturing, communica- MAGICAL PC LETTERS CONTINUED ■ From Page 8 MANAGEMENT. into the 21st century. It is important to reflect, howev- er, that the services tax is the di- rect result of people’s unwilling- ness to sit at the table and negotiate real and responsible so- lutions to our state’s fiscal crisis. REMOTE PC SUPPORT GRANTS EVERY I.T. WISH. The anti-tax crowd and its recall With Intel® vProTM processor technology, your IT manager or IT service provider can diagnose and repair rhetoric never presented a bal- PCs remotely, even when they’re off or the operating system is down.* So you can get back to what’s anced budget, never outlined a rea- really important: managing your business. Learn how easy it can be at intel.com/smallbusiness sonable strategy to resolve the shortfall and marginalized its own voice in a process that ended up Intel® AMT requires the computer system to have an enabled chipset, network hardware and software, a connection with a power source and a corporate network connection. Setup requires configuration and may require scripting with the management console or further integration into existing security frameworks, and modifications or implementation of new business processes. For more information, producing the services tax. see http://www.intel.com/technology/manage/iamt ©2007 Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo and Intel vPro are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All rights reserved. Steve Tobocman House Majority Floor Leader State Representative, 12th District Detroit DBpageAD.qxd 11/16/2007 9:15 AM Page 1 DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 11-19-07 A 11 CDB 11/15/2007 3:35 PM Page 1 November 19, 2007 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page 11 CONVERSATION WITH A Largest advertising/marketing companies. Ranked by 2006 revenue. 1 Valassis Communications Inc., $1,043.5 million. 2 George P. Johnson, $651.7 million. 3 Entertainment Publications Inc., $196.8 million. Tim Smith, Skidmore Inc. 4 W.B. Doner & Co., $173.1 million. 5 EWI Worldwide, $170.0 million. See Page 16 for the complete list. Crain’s reporter Bill Shea spoke with Tim Smith about Web 2.0. Smith is president of Royal Oak-based Skidmore Inc., a boutique advertising firm that’s devoted some of its staff to Internet-based work. What is Web 2.0? A lot of people throw Web 2.0 around like there’s this big switch. It’s a misnomer. It’s things like social networking (MySpace, Facebook), blogs, podcasts, wikis and Web-based services such as search engines, eBay and Gmail. A lot of places are involving their audience more. Facebook and MySpace are the drivers. Web 2.0 is a mind-set more than using technologies. Sometimes Blogs let Inc. speak someone will want us to redesign their Web site in Web 2.0 like it’s a new language. What value to business does it Firms market, talk with customers ... or give their 2 cents present? It’s how you want that Web site of yours to interact with your pulpit for a CEO? audience. Do you want your site to BY BILL SHEA CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Detroit-based companies have a growing sta- be a two-way, interactive BLOG ROLE MODEL?POLITICS ble of resources devoted to feeding these varied experience? You can allow some of n this corner, Jason Vines, the occasionally contributions to the blogosphere. Done right, Corporations can take a page them to drive some of that. You cheeky vice president of communications blogs can help collect important customer feed- from the political world, which form a relationship with them on a I for Chrysler L.L.C. back or help employees feel connected. knows well the value of blogging, one-to-one basis that is more In the other corner … anyone and everything Common blog pitfalls include companies not said Chris DeWitt, president of impactful. That’s what we’re trying that wanders into Vines’ online cross hairs at understanding their online audiences or legal DeWitt Communications in to help people understand. Lansing and Gov. Jennifer www.thefirehouse.biz, Chry- concerns — such as if the conversation ven- sler’s locally produced pri- Granholm’s political spokesman. What Skidmore clients are heavily tures into bad-mouthing competitors. vate blog for automotive me- into it? The Ann Arbor District Birmingham-based Brogan & Partners Conver- In the 2002 gubernatorial dia and analysts. election, blogs weren’t that Library. We added a blog component gence Marketing recently launched Cary, N.C.- The blog — which takes its prevalent. But in the 2006 on the front page, and it drove traffic based Ignite Social Media L.L.C., a social-network- name from the former fire sta- election, it was a key way to up 300 to 500 percent. They’re not ing consulting service. Setting up blogs is one of tion in Detroit that’s used as a communicate, DeWitt said.