Wisconsin lawmakers to close tax code loophole that lets big retailers duck fair property tax assessments

Business groups are lobbying hard against the proposal.

A legislative proposal that has to do with property taxes has pretty unusual bipartisan support.

Both sides of the aisle in Madison appear to be lining up behind bills that would close a tax code loophole – one that lets big retailers duck fair property tax assessments.

Assembly Minority leader Peter Barca, in a public hearing Thursday, said the bills help right wrongs.

“I would characterize this as sort of a loophole that’s come around over time,” he said. “And I’m greatly concerned with the impact on residential homeowners.

“As we all know, over the course of the past few decades or so, increasingly the burden of property taxes get shifted to residential homeowners.”

The move comes several years after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on the side of Walgreen’s, which sued some cities over what the company claimed was inflated assessments.  

So Democrats and Republicans alike seem largely united in the quest to re balance the property tax scales. At least, that’s what supporters are hoping for.

“They can only take so much,” Barca said of homeowners. “I hear from senior citizens all the time that really struggle at paying that property tax bill.

“That, in many cases, they’ve told me they have to decide between getting medication and paying property taxes.”

Business groups are lobbying hard against the proposal.