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NEW REP. Above, Dist. 36 State Representative Pete Lund makes his first official visit to the Romeo area since taking office. The former Board of Commissioners member hopes to change tax policies in order to help local residents and business owners.

(Observer photo by Chris Gray)

New state rep hopes to
tackle tax issues in office

by CHRIS GRAY
Observer Staff Writer

      With his newly-elected position as Dist. 36 State Representative, Pete Lund seeks to change tax policies for the betterment of businesses and homeowners.
       Lund, a former Macomb County Board of Commissioner for 11 years, has taken over as the district's state representative after Bruce Township native Brian Palmer was led out of office due to term limits.
       Lund said he was inspired to seek political office because he didn't like the direction the state of Michigan was going.
       "I think the state is heading in the absolute wrong direction," he said. "While we need to go out and bring more businesses into the state I don't think the state is doing what it needs to do to make that happen."
       A main example of what he hopes to change is with the Michigan Business Tax. He said some businesses are paying 500 to 600 percent more on taxes.
       "If you're raising the taxes on local businesses that have been providing jobs for years so you can bring other businesses in from out of state, where is that good for local business?" he said.
       He said he is looking to repeal the 22-percent surcharge on the tax to help out small businesses. He believes he has the support to do so, including those who put it in place.
       "It's not a matter of `gee, do we want to get rid of it' but `how do we get rid of it?'" he said.
       In relation, the first bill he plans to introduce would try to help residents with decreasing property values by not having their home's taxable value increase while the SEV decreases.
       "It's a situation where you can literally have your house going down in market value but the taxable value going up, and that should never happen," he said.
       He said one of his top priorities as state representative is to represent the people, meaning he wants to be in the area and make his offices available with phone calls and e-mail lists.
       "It's not that we can solve all the problems in our office, but we can put them in touch with the people who can," he said. "The first thing any representative of the people has to be is truly a representative. You have to keep in touch with the people."
       Lund has a B.A. in economics and political science from Adrian college and an M.B.A. with an emphasis on finance from Wayne State University.