Another crisis! Is the sky falling this time?

Lasee’s Notes

It’s a crisis! It’s a crisis! The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

That’s what the state’s Department of Transportation is calling it. Our $2.4 billion transportation budget isn’t big enough to pay for the highways, roads, and other myriad things it’s supposed to pay for.

Among other things, DOT chief Frank Busalacchi warned about a $4.7 million deficit by the middle of next year. Out of a $2.4 billion budget – less than two tenths of one percent.

A crisis.

If that’s the case, then the state could solve all our transportation problems simply by not raiding the transportation fund. The state balanced this budget by siphoning $427 million out of transportation – just leave that there, and the transportation budget would have a surplus in the hundreds of millions.

I wonder – would Mr. Busalacchi have noticed the “surplus” if we’d left that money alone?

Or perhaps there’s a way for us to spend less. Consider these other numbers:

According to the non-partisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, we have 21 miles of roads per 1000 residents in our state – 17th most in the nation.

Eighty-two percent of our roads are paved – 6th highest in the nation, and more than double the rate of paved roads per capita in Michigan and Illinois. We have more roads per person, and far more paved roads per person compared to our sister states. Is this any surprise?

And in 2002 (the latest data available), we spent $557 per capita on our state and local highways – 35% more than the national average, and 14th highest per-capita road spending in the country.

State spending on highways has doubled between 1990 and 2005, including a 16% increase this year. Overall DOT spending is up 11% in the current two-year budget. And starting July 1, debt service will take up almost 11% of all transportation taxes, up from seven and a half percent four years ago.

Not enough, says the DOT. Crisis!

As usual, the problem isn’t that we aren’t spending enough money. Our problem is that our eyes are bigger than our stomachs.

We used to say that all the time in my family. It means you took more food than you could eat. You wanted to eat more, but didn’t have room for it.

Wisconsin does this. We want to eat more, to have more, to spend more than we can afford.

We’re below average in personal income in Wisconsin, and above average in spending, which means a larger burden on each individual. And yet it’s not enough. We have unmet needs. The DOT isn’t alone in this – every state department and agency will tell you the same thing – they don’t have enough money, even when we spend above the national average in nearly every program that has any merit.

How do states that spend below the national average make do, I wonder? And by the way, Colorado spends more per capita on their roads than we do, even though they have TABOR (TPA).

The problem in Wisconsin isn’t that we don’t tax enough. It is that, no matter how much we spend, our government keeps coming back for more.

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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.

Twelve Percent

Lasee’s Notes

Once upon a time, there was no such thing as the income tax (no, this isn’t a fairy tale).

Congress enacted the first income tax for several years during and after the Civil War – it was repealed in 1872, and not revisited for a couple of decades. When the idea came up again, opponents tried to at least cap the income tax at a top rate of 10%.

The income tax was enacted without the 10% cap, partly because nobody believed the voters would ever actually let a federal income tax grow to more than a couple of percentage points.

Fast forward to today: we’re paying over 12% of our income in state and local taxes – and that doesn’t include the federal income tax. Or any other federal taxes. Or any fees, assessments, charges, etc. That’s just the state and local taxes.

According to a report by the non-partisan Competitive Wisconsin, Inc., taxes in Wisconsin grew to 12.1% of personal income in 2004, up from 11.9% the year before. That’s one dollar out of every eight earned.

There’s a lot to say about this. For example, personal income in Wisconsin grew 5% in 2004. Taxes grew even faster. Faster than personal income, meaning faster than our ability to pay.

Interesting side note: Wisconsin’s personal income growth ranked 38th nationally. Colorado’s personal income grew 6.5% or 12th nationally. They’re really hurting over there (just listen to the naysayers).

All this makes one wonder: what happened to all the promises, from all those candidates, to bring Wisconsin’s tax burden down?

And don’t forget, this is a measure only of state and local taxes. It doesn’t include federal taxes, or fees, or assessments, or public benefits, or licenses, etc., etc., etc.

The state government alone has increased fees by nearly $500 million in the last two budgets. Local governments are coming up with more fees and assessments – stormwater runoff fees – the Rain Tax – is increasingly popular. How much of our incomes are going to the government once all those are added in?

The report contains other negatives about Wisconsin: fewer than one in four Wisconsin residents has a college degree, and venture capital is invested here at about one-tenth the national rate.

There are also some positives: new private businesses were created at a faster rate than the national average, and exports were higher, as well.

How much higher would these have been, how much more venture capital could we attract, how many more high-income residents would we have, if our tax burden wasn’t outpacing our ability to pay? If Wisconsin were known not as a Tax Hell, but as a great place to do business?

Our elected officials aren’t doing it, so it’s time for a constitutional amendment to protect us taxpayers and our economy from an ever increasing tax burden.

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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.

Teddy Roosevelt's Ideas on Immigration

Lasee’s Notes

Found this in my inbox the other day:

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith, becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American... There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Also, Charlie Sykes pointed out this report by J. Michael Waller of the Center for Security Policy: DOUBLE STANDARDS
How does Mexico handle immigration? J. Michael Waller has the details here in "Mexico's Glass House:

In brief, the Mexican Constitution states that:

Immigrants and foreign visitors are banned from public political discourse.
Immigrants and foreigners are denied certain basic property rights.
Immigrants are denied equal employment rights.
Immigrants and naturalized citizens will never be treated as real Mexican citizens.
Immigrants and naturalized citizens are not to be trusted in public service.
Immigrants and naturalized citizens may never become members of the clergy.
Private citizens may make citizens arrests of lawbreakers (i.e., illegal immigrants) and hand them to the authorities.
Immigrants may be expelled from Mexico for any reason and without due process.
The author, J. Michael Waller, concludes:

"...we should not allow the hypocrisy of others' treatment of undocumented aliens in their countries to induce us to refrain from taking effective steps to prevent further illegal immigration: by building a fence along our southern border; by enforcing immigration laws in the workplace and elsewhere; and by discouraging more such violations - with potentially grave national security implications - by dealing effectively with those who have already broken those laws by coming here without permission."

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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.