Barking up the wrong horse
-or Beating a dead tree.
I mixed a couple metaphors there to get your attention, as I fear I may quickly lose it.
Fist, stand in front of the mirror and ask the question, who really pays the corporate income tax? Then, I an going to urge you to badger your legislators to abolish the $600 million/year corporate income tax. That is a single tool that could cut the size of government and grow the economy in one simply complicated step-leap.
What am I talking double-talking about? For starters, the corporate tax code composes about 25% of our state tax law, a candid Dept. of Revenue bigwig once said. It costs upwards of $20 million a year for state workers to administer that compiles code, process forms and enforce a Gordian knot of rules. If we could slash through the knot and get off businesses' backs, it would take more than a few inches off the size of government's Big and Tall trousers and let the economy grow like corn in an ethanol state.
And it could stop a budding IT fiasco. The DNR and Dept. of Workforce Development have been working for years on combining tax collection systems for various withholding and employment taxes (see the UW payroll program of late). At the risk of wasting money already spent on this nearly decade-old project, axing the corporate tax might simplify things to the point where they could actually implement a joint IT project.
Canning the corporate tax code would also save in staff expenses at legislative bureaus. It would end administration of numerous lucrative tax breaks, funding for which could be used to offset the lost revenue. Other lost revenue could be offset by ending property tax breaks that those "greedy" business interests have acquired over the past year. That's a statement intended for those who never built a business. And it would end the DOR's crippling pursuit of tax shelters for corporate investment income. The dreaded, two-headed beast, "combined reporting," could be laid to rest with other bogeymen.
Next there is our Dept. of Commerce, which gleefully distributes $40 million a year, in the name Governor Du Jour, through its Technology Zone Program, just one of many grant programs, which require dozens of application evaluators abd processors, the deciders among whom are loyal to the supporters of Gov. Du Jour.
Government redistributing wealth in its infinate political wisdom and interest? I don't think this is what Adams and Jefferson had in mind.
And I haven't even touched on the 8.5 million little piggies in Wis DOT's Transportation Economic Assistance program, in addition to their other sundry grants. Sometimes government cooks best by staying out of the kitchen. You want a surefire recipe for creating jobs? We don't need a $750 million Institutes for Discovery in Madison. Just demolish the corporate tax and ring the dinner bell.
At the very least, abolishing the corporate income tax is something worth a study by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. And it may be a more pratical step than a TABOR or a TPA for reducing government spending and waste.
Can somebody toss me a sturdy stick? I want another whack at that dead tree.
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By Richard Parins, President of The Brown County Taxpayers Association.
I mixed a couple metaphors there to get your attention, as I fear I may quickly lose it.
Fist, stand in front of the mirror and ask the question, who really pays the corporate income tax? Then, I an going to urge you to badger your legislators to abolish the $600 million/year corporate income tax. That is a single tool that could cut the size of government and grow the economy in one simply complicated step-leap.
What am I talking double-talking about? For starters, the corporate tax code composes about 25% of our state tax law, a candid Dept. of Revenue bigwig once said. It costs upwards of $20 million a year for state workers to administer that compiles code, process forms and enforce a Gordian knot of rules. If we could slash through the knot and get off businesses' backs, it would take more than a few inches off the size of government's Big and Tall trousers and let the economy grow like corn in an ethanol state.
And it could stop a budding IT fiasco. The DNR and Dept. of Workforce Development have been working for years on combining tax collection systems for various withholding and employment taxes (see the UW payroll program of late). At the risk of wasting money already spent on this nearly decade-old project, axing the corporate tax might simplify things to the point where they could actually implement a joint IT project.
Canning the corporate tax code would also save in staff expenses at legislative bureaus. It would end administration of numerous lucrative tax breaks, funding for which could be used to offset the lost revenue. Other lost revenue could be offset by ending property tax breaks that those "greedy" business interests have acquired over the past year. That's a statement intended for those who never built a business. And it would end the DOR's crippling pursuit of tax shelters for corporate investment income. The dreaded, two-headed beast, "combined reporting," could be laid to rest with other bogeymen.
Next there is our Dept. of Commerce, which gleefully distributes $40 million a year, in the name Governor Du Jour, through its Technology Zone Program, just one of many grant programs, which require dozens of application evaluators abd processors, the deciders among whom are loyal to the supporters of Gov. Du Jour.
Government redistributing wealth in its infinate political wisdom and interest? I don't think this is what Adams and Jefferson had in mind.
And I haven't even touched on the 8.5 million little piggies in Wis DOT's Transportation Economic Assistance program, in addition to their other sundry grants. Sometimes government cooks best by staying out of the kitchen. You want a surefire recipe for creating jobs? We don't need a $750 million Institutes for Discovery in Madison. Just demolish the corporate tax and ring the dinner bell.
At the very least, abolishing the corporate income tax is something worth a study by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. And it may be a more pratical step than a TABOR or a TPA for reducing government spending and waste.
Can somebody toss me a sturdy stick? I want another whack at that dead tree.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Richard Parins, President of The Brown County Taxpayers Association.
posted by John Q Cheesehead | 9:48 AM
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