Start of a Trend?

Brighton appears to be one of the first communities in Michigan to lose jobs due to Rick Snyder's plan to "reinvent" Michigan.

Fronius USA, a solar company with its American headquarters in Brighton, says it is moving to Indiana due to tax incentives, where it plans to create 512 jobs by 2016. The state of Indiana said its offer of $4.25 million in tax credits and other incentives prompted the move.

Snyder is getting rid of incentives and instead cut business taxes by $1.7 billion by dumping the taxes on senior citizens and the poor. But even though Fronius, as a limited liability corporation, would not owe income taxes in Michigan under the new law, it's not enough to keep the company in Michigan.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation is trying to figure out exactly what happened and why, which doesn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence in Snyder's operation.

Brighton isn't the only city to lose jobs due to Snyder's "reinvention" of Michigan. According to the Detroit News, Spartan Motors Inc. is moving some its operations from Michigan to Indiana, too.

Let's hope this is not the start of a trend.