One of the best parts of being a Michigander is that we understand the phrase, “Up North.” We are the only state who can tell our neighbors that we are going up north for vacation without leading to confusion during the conversation. From Kid Rock singing about up north to Tim Allen’s, Pure Michigan commercials, we all have a memory or a special connection to Michigan’s great outdoors.
A lot of people connect to up north because they own a cottage on a lake, rather it is Lake Charlevoix in Charlevoix, Michigan or Walloon Lake in Petoskey, Michigan. Often times we think of cottages as a way to get away from the real world, but nowadays they can be our homes or in many cases, an unseen financial burden.
For many Michiganders, it is hard to directly own their cottage so they put it in an LLC. An LLC is a limited liability company that will help own your cabin/cottage but will not control any decisions you make surrounding the property. Unfortunately, the Michigan government wants to penalize people who choose outside help for managing their cottages.
When parents pass their cottages down to their children, their children pay the same property taxes as their parents did. It’s a way to keep the cottage, and memories, in the family. But this is no longer the case if the cottage is owned by an LLC. A new Michigan law states that if an LLC owns a majority of the cottage than the inheritance of the cottage will now have property taxes at current rates instead of the rates their parents paid. My North.com, an up north website, has said that this law is sending, “families scrambling to reshape the carefully thought-out transition plans they’d just written.”
Families should be able to use an LLC if needed and not be penalized for their decision. Parents should be allowed to pass down their hard earned work and family cottages without the government penalizing their children. The only reason the government supports this law is because it puts more money in their pockets. If families cannot afford to keep cottages in their name they will stop going up north and the economy will take a hit. This is morally and economically wrong for our state.
Contact your state rep and senator and tell them why people should be allowed to inherit family property without government interference.
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