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As I See It

Raising local sales tax a bad idea

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We don’t know what the final result will look like, but so far Governor Evers’ ideas for a new state budget are a mixed bag. The state is in the rare position of being flush with cash, and that money presents a lot of opportunities for government to do things it couldn’t or wouldn’t before. Like providing more state aid to municipalities. The Governor wants to provide over $500 million in new state aid to Wisconsin’s cities and counties. That money could be used to fund public safety like police and fire protection, as well as local courts. That is money that then wouldn’t have to be collected through property taxes, helping the city and county balance their budgets without being so reliant on local taxpayers. For too long, Wisconsin cities and towns have had to do more with less. Adjusted for inflation, local governments receive less in state aid today than they did nine years ago. Helping local government balance their books would be a good use of state money. But Evers deserves a thumbs down for his idea to allow Wisconsin’s largest cities to adopt an additional half cent sales tax to fund local government. Providing more state aid would help reduce our tax burden. Hiking the local sales tax would increase it.

Scott Robert Shaw serves as WIZM Program Director and News Director, and delivers the morning news on WKTY, Z-93 and 95.7 The Rock. Scott has been at Mid-West Family La Crosse since 1989, and authors Wisconsin's only daily radio editorial, "As I See It" heard on WIZM each weekday morning and afternoon.

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. nick

    February 9, 2023 at 6:43 am

    Here is where living in different parts of the country throughout my life at 74 gives me a far better broad perspective and life experience.
    I moved to Florida and spent ten years there. The first year was an election year and in the ballot was a question about raising the sales tax in Pinellas County( Saint Petersburg area) a penny. The money would be used to fund county wide projects that would be part of the question and the funds could only be used for those three reasons.
    The question if passed would be voted on every three years.
    The first time it passed something like 52 to 48. The second time three years later it passed with over 60% and the third time over 70%.
    I left the area after ten years.
    The problem here is as I have found in other areas: entrenched parochialism.
    Individuals like myself can bring a lot to the table but are not given an opportunity. Case in point, struggling school systems is nothing new to me. I had a friend on the Davenport school board; a board that grappled with and us still grapples with declining enrollment and old buildings.
    I have no axe to grind and as an “outsider” can look at all objectively.
    My interest is the best education possible. My chance of helping— ABOLUTELY ZERO

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