As this column is being written, a radical, far-reaching scheme that would change utterly the nature of our state is being mounted by powerful, secretive interest groups.

Brilliantly conceived, astonishingly audacious and breath taking in its smooth execution, the objective is nothing less than to make Michigan into a low tax, low service state modeled along the lines of Mississippi.

Up to now, the plan has been hidden in plain sight - unexplained, unexamined and foisted upon a largely unknowing Michigan citizenry.  Its amazing success to date has been hastened by failure by those who should know better to connect the dots and to speak out.

From today's vantage point, it's easy to trace step by step how the plan developed over the past three years.

Step One: Label the Single Business Tax a "job-killer."  Led by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and Republicans in the legislature, a coordinated effort was launched in 2003 to define the SBT as a tax on employment and, hence, a cause of Michigan's job losses.

In fact, the SBT was adopted in 1975, replacing seven clumsy businesses taxes.  It was supposed to be easier to administer and provide a more stable revenue base than taxes on business profits.  Over the years, the SBT was amended repeatedly until it became complex, difficult to administer and so unique that nationally it stood out like a sore thumb to businesses thinking of expanding in Michigan.

Step Two: Repeal the SBT.  Responding to criticism of the SBT, Governor Granholm in 2005 proposed a series of amendments that would have eased the tax burden on manufacturers, especially.  Interest groups far and wide howled, and her proposals got nowhere in the Republican-controlled legislature, which fussed and fumed about how awful the SBT was.  The legislature then voted to kill the SBT outright; the bill was vetoed by the governor.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson launched a petition drive to repeal the SBT this past March.  He raised more than $800,000 to pay a private company to solicit petition signatures to put measure on the November ballot that would repeal the SBT as of December 31, 2007.  In late May, Patterson submitted 372,604 petitions, easily topping the number required.  The drive provided the legislature with a veto-proof vehicle to repeal the SBT, which can be expected later this year.

Step Three: Beat the drums for "tax reform" in Michigan, including a cut of $500 million in business taxes.  Patterson, House Speaker Craig De Roche, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos and the state chamber promptly began urging cuts in business taxes, arguing that if repeal of the SBT cost the state $1.9 billion in revenue for the $9.3 billion General Fund, it would "improve the business climate" to build a business tax cut of $500 million into any plans for a replacement tax structure.

There is great doubt that a tax cut of this sort would do much to improve our economy. State tax revenue has been cut by $4 billion over the past five years without any particular help for the collapsing automobile industry.  Manufacturers to a one say that while the SBT is an aggravation, the tax that really hurts them is the personal property tax, which is unaffected by repeal of the SBT.  And two recent studies, one by the Citizens Research Council and the other by Michigan's Future, Inc., found that Michigan's business taxes are already below the national average and that low tax states in general have substantially lower rates of economic growth than high tax ones.

Step Four: Hire heavyweight experts to craft self-serving tax plans.  Now that the stage is set for repeal of the SBT, various interest groups are busy cobbling up "tax reform" schemes crafted to their liking.

The Chamber of Commerce has hired Ernst & Young, one of the country's best known accounting firms, to put together a tax reform package for Michigan.  Earlier this year, E&Y proposed a business tax plan for Ohio, which featured repeal of the personal property tax on machinery, equipment and inventory (which manufacturers like). Nobody expects the Michigan plan to be similar, especially since the main patrons of the state chamber are the insurance and banking industries.

More ominously, House Speaker De Roche has hired Patrick Anderson, a capable but very conservative Lansing economic consultant, to put together a study that would outline what Michigan has to do become a low-tax state.

Step Five: Pull the business tax cut train out of the station.  Other than ideological drum beating about the unproven proposition that a $500 million business tax cut will improve Michigan's economic climate, there has been absolutely no discussion of what kind of state we want to have before we start discussing what kind of tax structure best gets us there.

This process is not only spectacularly backward, but it also has left Michigan citizens entirely out of the discussion about what kind of state they want.

Michigan is now at the edge of a cliff.  We're about to get pushed off, falling backward into a future that looks a lot like Mississippi instead of a vibrant Michigan with commitments to invest in education, the environment and the quality of life for our citizens.

Governor Granholm, where the hell are you on this?  Business community, how come you are so deafeningly silent?  Michigan citizens, do you have any idea what's being done to you?