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Thursday, February 27, 2014

Walker’s Lower Property Tax Promise just more deferred maintenance and Republican freeloading.

Want to leave our children with higher taxes? Make them pay for replacing our aging and crumbling infrastructure.

To understand Scott Walker and his ideologically driven policies, replace “freedom” with “freeloader.” And that strikes at the heart of GOP economics.

Walker promise; lower property taxes. It’s another way Republicans say, “We’re entitled to the fruits and labor of past generations, without maintaining or replacing it.” They are freeloaders.

With Walker’s big government cap on local taxes, he can tinker and lower taxes insignificantly for purely political reasons, like this...
A chart released by Walker on Wednesday when he made his latest announcement showed that taxes on a median-valued home would be $1 less in 2018 than on bills mailed in December.
Gee, thanks. At Cognitive Dissidence, one reader made this point:
Widgeon: Walker has done two things to affect property taxes and local government. 1.) He has cut aids to local government and school aids. 2.) He has placed limits on how much the local units can raise and for what purpose. So this makes the locals look like the bad guys when taxes go up, either due to county, municipal or school levies. And it leaves walker with the ability to say he didn't raise taxes. Voters need to pay attention to this switcheroo.
Walker did the same thing in Milwaukee as county executive, where he let the county board raise taxes all the while maintaining ideological purity.

And with further GOP cuts coming down the line, the state will be in even bigger trouble when Republicans require a super majority vote to raise taxes in the future. California saw huge deficits because of such a law, which has since been repealed. California is now enjoying a huge budget surplus as a result.

Democratic candidate Mary Burke’s campaign responded, “Mary Burke is committed to holding the line on property taxes.” Burke should have also promised to give local governments control again (no cap), and spell out the same kind of arguments presented in Widgeon’s comment. 

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