A few thoughts on Red State Wisconsin Freeloaders...

This blog post is my way of venting, and won't change a thing.

There's a reason why wheel taxes and school referendums are passing all over the state; it's to make up for local shortfalls due to our statewide property tax cap and lower sales/income taxes championed by Republicans. Scott Walker and the GOP have all but killed the idea that when we all pay into the state, the costs are lower than if we pay individually.

Dane County Executive Joe Parisi (said), "I think (Wisconsin Republicans) made a deliberate decision that their main goal, despite the stated goal of creating jobs, was to destroy their enemies."

The GOP logic for tax cuts is a mind-blower: It's our national tax ranking. That's it! There's nothing fiscally responsible about it.

Wisconsin is now so out of whack, it's really hard to nail down just what anyone can do about it. Republicans have successfully convince everyone in the state that there is a free lunch, taxes are too high, and more cuts are always the answer. It's a political brand they brag about in election year ads, but it's not real.

We've become a state of freeloaders, expecting something for nothing, without ever paying forward what we got from so many previous generations.

A recent story in the Middleton Times-Tribune made all of this so much clearer, with a fee now added to their water bills. As you can see below, it's all just GOP created smoke and mirrors:

Permanent Out-of-Whack Tax Cuts: Like the failed Taxpayer-Bill-of-Right (TABOR), ratcheting down taxes along with a often repeated "taxes are too high" message, there is no going back. It would now be political suicide to change how lopsided things have become:

WPR:  In other states, local sales taxes and income taxes fund much larger shares of municipal budgets, putting less strain on homeowners and other property owners. Rob Henken, president of the Wisconsin Policy Forum said, "It's the extent to which we are different. It's the extent of that reliance with virtually no other forms of broad local taxation."

This is just how out-of-whack we've become:

Nationally in 2015, cities received about 23 percent of their revenue from property taxes and 21 percent from sales and income taxes.

In Wisconsin, by contrast, municipalities received about 42 percent of their revenue from the property tax, but only about 1.6 percent from sales and income taxes.

Seriously!!! The lower income tax is a gift to the wealthy, surprised?

This all came about because the state decided to spend more on schools, BadgerCare, and prisons, capping local property taxes along the way. Who knew Republicans would reverse that spending:

Henken doesn't recommend a specific policy change ... arguing it could be easier to address now than it would be later. "The economy is doing well. It is often easier to make big changes to revenue structures at times when economic growth is occurring."

But we know that isn't going to happen in our lifetime, so the reality is coming into focus; this is no longer the Wisconsin I grew up in and loved.

It's now strictly a political state Scott Walker can hold up as an example of right-wing values that no longer include dairy farmers, outdoor recreation and sports, and homegrown friendly communities working together. It's time to fight each other. From a previous post:

This is Wisconsin Now? Walker thinks "fighting" is good, a way to bring us together: 

Harwood: "When you talk about fighting and winning, sometimes when I hear that, it sounds to me like the emphasis is on the fighting, almost like you're running to be the hockey team enforcer."

Walker: "Well I think right now people do want to fight in America. I think people want a fighter who can win, get the results. I fought, I won, I got results, and I did it without violating my conservative principles."

Nothing says dangerous disconnect more than ignoring what divides this country...because that will only bring us together:

Huffington Post-Don't Focus On 'Racial Discord' Or You'll Only Create More: "If we focus on unity we’re going to get more of that ... We need to change the tone in America from chants and rallies that fixate on racial division."