A press event was held Tuesday by a coalition of 65 Wisconsin organizations asserting that deep service cuts could destroy Wisconsin families and that increased taxes should not be ruled out. Among the sponsors were the Wisconsin Counties Association, the Wisconsin Council on Children & Families, the Institute for Wisconsin's Future, the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, ADAPT Wisconsin, League of Woman Voters of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, Disability Rights Wisconsin, the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups, and the Wisconsin Catholic Conference. Their statement argued:
With so many people in need, this is the worst possible time to cut services. Now more than ever, we must maintain the safety net and stay true to our Wisconsin values. Many prominent economists have noted that making cuts during a recession hurts the economy even more than carefully targeted tax increases.
“These cuts will have real consequences for our communities,” said Fond du Lac County Executive Allen Buechel. Buechel noted that because of the recession, Fond du Lac and other counties are already seeing increasing demand for FoodShare (food stamps), Medicaid, and other services for families in need. Most of these programs are funded by the state and federal government but administered by Wisconsin’s counties.
Buechel and other advocates for families, people with disabilities, children, and seniors warned that those harmful effects will only get worse if lawmakers and the governor try to balance the state’s $6.6 billion budget deficit solely by cutting state spending.
“We need to take a balanced approach that includes spending reductions and targeted revenue increases,” Buechel said. “We simply cannot cut our way out of this crisis.”
The group suggested some sources of revenue:
Once this group raised the dreaded idea that some taxes might need to be increased, the reactions were swift and of the knee-jerk reflex variety. Typical was Republican operative Brian Fraley, writing for the WMC sock puppet MacIver Institute for Public Policy:
Reckless spending and questionable bonding has left Wisconsin's Budget in dire straits, just as the national economy went into the tank. Over-burdened taxpayers and people who have come to rely on government-provided human services will be hit the hardest as the Doyle Administration tires (sic) to right the economic ship after years of neglect.
But they err when they assert that the 'tough' thing to do would be to raise taxes. The real tough thing to do would be to examine state spending and prioritize spending so that pressing, legitimate needs are met without increasing taxes.
That "increasing taxes" is the taboo that really should never be mentioned in earshot of the WMC and its allies.
Maybe that's why the event pushed Rep. Steve Nass' hot button and generated this over-the-top reaction:
“The Wisconsin Counties Association is a group funded with taxpayer dollars and continues to use those funds to call for punishing families with all sorts of higher taxes. Almost $3 billion in tax increases during a massive recession isn’t enough for the Counties Association. These vultures want to squeeze every last drop of blood from the hard working people of this state,” Nass said. (emphasis added)
Vultures? The Wisconsin Counties Association, sure. But the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, ADAPT Wisconsin, League of Woman Voters of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, Disability Rights Wisconsin, the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups, and the Wisconsin Catholic Conference? Huh?
Blood squeezing vultures? Don't vultures eat mostly carrion? Maybe Nass meant vampires. Starts with the same letter. It's always hard to tell exactly what Rep. Nass has in mind when he speaks. Vampires, that's the ticket. The League of Woman Voters of Wisconsin are vampires.
And Nass probably wonders why his releases haven't been getting the media play they used to when his party ran the Legislature.
- Barry Orton
Those who benefit the most, in their private endeavors, from the entire social system of shared community costs for infrastructure, should darn well pay the most for it.
It used to be known as The American Way.
aka Progressive Taxation.
The purpose of the Estate Tax is to prevent the formation of powerful family dynasties who use their accumulated, though unearned, wealth to manipulate the Legislature to their own ends. It's bad enough as it is.
Posted by: mandrake | May 21, 2009 at 12:14 PM
The state is to provide for the welfare of the people. I believe this implies the majority of the voting citizenry. If the state cannot provide for the peoples welfare or places an elite minority in a preferential situation, then this state no longer operates as a viable government entity and should be dissolved.
Posted by: antpoppa | May 21, 2009 at 01:24 PM
OK, mandrake, you can flail away all you want about how the estate tax will prevent the "formation of powerful family dynasties" but the reality is that when you enact a confiscatory inheritance tax, the people who will have to pay it simply change their residencies to other states. And this means that before they die, they don't have to pay income tax in Wisconsin either. In most cases for the people who truly love Wisconsin, this doesn't mean they have to move away permanently, they just have to manipulate things like their drivers licenses, how much time they spend at their winter homes, etc. You can enact your inheritance tax hell plan and all these people wave goodbye, and then what do you have? I agree that it's desirable to save as much of the social safety net as possible for the folks who truly need it, but the Governor and Legislature rammed $2.9 BILLION in permanent tax increases on business and the wealthy in February. At some point public employees are going to have to suck it in a little, just like the rest of us have.
Posted by: Casey from Cashton | May 21, 2009 at 01:24 PM
Simple solution. Let the other states that are gullible to the manipulations of the elite pay for the extra tax burdens these swine impose. Or they can wise up too. We have nothing to lose but our chains.
"If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine."Che
Posted by: antpoppa | May 21, 2009 at 04:05 PM