You can officially count Michigan’s business leaders as being believers in the positive impact of federal tax reform. That’s good news, too, because just prior to federal tax cut action in Washington, optimism had gone flat around the state. That’s the essence of a new report out from the Business Leaders for Michigan.
According to the latest survey from the Business Leaders for Michigan, the forecast now is for stronger growth for both the U.S. and state economies thanks to federal tax reform.
Survey respondents also expect their companies’ capital investment in Michigan to increase (52-percent) or remain the same (45-percent) during the next six months. Sixty-one percent of respondents expect employment in Michigan to increase. Doug Rothwell is President & CEO at Business Leaders for Michigan and he tells us, “Optimism about the future had plateaued before tax reform passed.” Rothwell adds, “This legislation is viewed as a major improvement to America’s business climate that will also help Michigan.”
Highlights of the survey of Business Leaders for Michigan include:
- Next six months: The percent of business leaders (80-percent) having a positive view of U.S. economic growth over the next six months nearly doubled from late last year. Similarly, 74-percent of respondents believe Michigan’s economic growth will improve during the same time period – nearly a 30-percent increase from the third quarter of 2017. What’s unique in this survey is that 100-percent of all respondents indicated same/better/higher economic outcomes—absolutely zero percent envision weakness at either the state or U.S. levels.
- Next 18 months: Optimism about the Michigan economy over the long term now lags expectations for the U.S. All of the survey respondents believe the U.S. economy will hold or improve over the next 18 months – nearly a 100-percent improvement over last year. With respect to Michigan, a majority of business leaders (58-percent) expect improvement, with 32-percent anticipating things will stay about the same, and 10-percent expecting a decline.
You can find the Quarterly Economic Outlook Reports online by clicking the link below at:
https://businessleadersformichigan.com/category/data/surveys/
Business Leaders for Michigan, the state’s business roundtable, is dedicated to making Michigan a “Top Ten” state for jobs, personal income and a healthy economy. The organization is composed exclusively of the chairpersons, chief executive officers, or most senior executives of Michigan’s largest companies and universities. The organization’s members drive nearly one-third of the state’s economy, provide 390,000 direct jobs in Michigan, generate over $1 trillion in annual revenue and serve nearly half of all Michigan public university students.
