Those Darn Exceptions
Lasee’s Notes
“…I announced a plan to freeze property taxes the responsible way. Not only does my plan set strict limits on taxes, but it makes an historic funding commitment to schools and local governments that will take the burden off property taxpayers.” This is how Governor Doyle described his plan to provide tax relief to property owners in February 2005. Sounds good doesn’t it?
The Governor claimed that his ‘responsible’ freeze would maintain our schools, roads, police and fire departments, and all of the other generous services our governments provide without raising property tax bills. Unfortunately for taxpayers, that bubble burst last week.
The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, a non-partisan fiscal watchdog group, released a study that found property tax rates among all Wisconsin municipalities increased on average of 4.1% last year despite the Governor’s freeze. That increase was nearly the same as the past 3 years. In fact, 77% of Wisconsin municipalities with populations over 2,000 exceeded the limits. More than a third of these communities raised taxes more in 2006 than in 2005 when there was no freeze.
Wait a minute. I thought Governor Doyle took the burden off property taxpayers by capping the increases in our tax bills to 2%. So how did this happen?
Unlike the Republican tax freeze that required all local taxing jurisdictions – counties, municipalities, school districts, and technical schools - to freeze tax collections at 2004 levels for the next three years, the Governor’s version was full of exceptions that allowed governments to spend more.
Most notably the Doyle plan allowed municipalities, counties, and tech colleges to increase spending by more than twice the rate of inflation. The Governor placed no limits on school district spending. Given these facts, it is not surprising that tax bills went up.
Ryan Parsons, a researcher for the Taxpayers Alliance, summed up the problem when he said, “Although the municipal levy restrictions weren’t that tough, we were surprised that the increase was over 4%. It just shows the cumulative effect of all the exceptions piling up.”
Those darn exceptions – they keep sticking it to the taxpayers.
These are the same exceptions that have infected our federal government and seem to be spreading to our state and local governments as well. These exceptions of course are the little loopholes that seem to work there way into many well-intentioned public policies that lead to more spending.
These loopholes have contributed to a federal debt that stands at $8.4 trillion (that’s twelve zeroes) and a state debt of nearly $9 billion. And growing in both cases.
Politicians understand that they can sell responsible, tough reforms to the voters and also include loopholes that fly under the radar and keep the spending interests happy.
What can we, the taxpayers and voters, do?
We must keep the pressure on by staying informed and reading the small print. So the next time a politician tries to pull the wool over our eyes, we can surprise them and call them on it.
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Lasee’s Notes is a weekly column by Representative Frank Lasee, 2nd Assembly District, covering events in the Legislature and statewide.
“…I announced a plan to freeze property taxes the responsible way. Not only does my plan set strict limits on taxes, but it makes an historic funding commitment to schools and local governments that will take the burden off property taxpayers.” This is how Governor Doyle described his plan to provide tax relief to property owners in February 2005. Sounds good doesn’t it?
The Governor claimed that his ‘responsible’ freeze would maintain our schools, roads, police and fire departments, and all of the other generous services our governments provide without raising property tax bills. Unfortunately for taxpayers, that bubble burst last week.
The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, a non-partisan fiscal watchdog group, released a study that found property tax rates among all Wisconsin municipalities increased on average of 4.1% last year despite the Governor’s freeze. That increase was nearly the same as the past 3 years. In fact, 77% of Wisconsin municipalities with populations over 2,000 exceeded the limits. More than a third of these communities raised taxes more in 2006 than in 2005 when there was no freeze.
Wait a minute. I thought Governor Doyle took the burden off property taxpayers by capping the increases in our tax bills to 2%. So how did this happen?
Unlike the Republican tax freeze that required all local taxing jurisdictions – counties, municipalities, school districts, and technical schools - to freeze tax collections at 2004 levels for the next three years, the Governor’s version was full of exceptions that allowed governments to spend more.
Most notably the Doyle plan allowed municipalities, counties, and tech colleges to increase spending by more than twice the rate of inflation. The Governor placed no limits on school district spending. Given these facts, it is not surprising that tax bills went up.
Ryan Parsons, a researcher for the Taxpayers Alliance, summed up the problem when he said, “Although the municipal levy restrictions weren’t that tough, we were surprised that the increase was over 4%. It just shows the cumulative effect of all the exceptions piling up.”
Those darn exceptions – they keep sticking it to the taxpayers.
These are the same exceptions that have infected our federal government and seem to be spreading to our state and local governments as well. These exceptions of course are the little loopholes that seem to work there way into many well-intentioned public policies that lead to more spending.
These loopholes have contributed to a federal debt that stands at $8.4 trillion (that’s twelve zeroes) and a state debt of nearly $9 billion. And growing in both cases.
Politicians understand that they can sell responsible, tough reforms to the voters and also include loopholes that fly under the radar and keep the spending interests happy.
What can we, the taxpayers and voters, do?
We must keep the pressure on by staying informed and reading the small print. So the next time a politician tries to pull the wool over our eyes, we can surprise them and call them on it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lasee’s Notes is a weekly column by Representative Frank Lasee, 2nd Assembly District, covering events in the Legislature and statewide.
posted by John Q Cheesehead | 9:52 AM
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