Bill Would Allow Municipalities To Tax Residents For Mosquito Spraying

Michigan is one step closer to granting municipalities the right to tax residents when spraying for mosquitoes. The bills have passed the House Local Government and Municipal Finance Committee. They would allow townships to establish a special assessment district for mosquito abatement. Brian Ellison of the Michigan Libertarian Party is against the bill.

“The Libertarian Party in Michigan rises today in opposition to these bills, which frankly, strike us as a blatant tax grab,” Ellison told the committee. “Empowering local governments to impose new taxes over and above the currently burdensome rates already levied on many localities is a form of theft.”

The vote in the state House follows last year’s outbreak of the deadly mosquito-borne virus Eastern Equine Encephalitis across 11 counties. Six people were killed from it.