Will the new statewide effort of Michigan's business leaders to spur economic development and tax reform gain traction?

Announced Thursday by about 70 CEOs - led by David Brandon, head of Ann Arbor's Domino's Pizza - the group called Business Leaders for Michigan cited data that provided a warning that Michigan's economic rebound won't happen until 2011.

Trying to encourage economic growth, the group's efforts will focus immediately on reducing the Michigan Business Tax and widening the service taxes while cutting the sales tax.

"If we don't get something done, the current trends will lead this state to a point in time where it will be very hard to recover," said Brandon, chairman of Business Leaders for Michigan in a report by Peter Luke on the group's formation announcement in Lansing, published on MLive.com.

"We know we're on the wrong track," Brandon was quoted in a report on Freep.com.

The group made several other proposals to cut state spending, including reducing the number of the state's colleges and universities. More on those proposals can be seen in the Detroit News article about the announcement.

The group won't officially form until Jan. 1, and details on its plans still need to be worked out, its leadership said Thursday.

According to the Detroit News: "While changes are needed to make the sales tax more closely match 21st-Century economic activity, Brandon said details haven't been finalized.

"Leaders of the group also declined to outline an agenda for making their proposed changes happen, or which of the dozens of proposals they would like to see acted upon right away. They are to form a political action committee to support candidates, but won't have an office in Lansing."

According to that story on MLive.com, a study for the group shows:

• Michigan has shed more than 18 percent of its jobs since 2000.

• The state's per capita income has been growing below the national average for three decades with the rate of decline accelerating greatly in this decade.

• The state ranked last in economic growth in 2009. In terms of population, Michigan is shrinking relative to other states.

The Business Leaders group was created out of Detroit Renaissance, a southeast Michigan business leadership group. It announced in late August that it planned to shift to a statewide focus.

Business Director Paula Gardner can be contacted at (734) 623-2586 or by email.