The Liberty Tree Lantern

DIAMOND JIM DOYLE HAS GOT TO GO!  Look at the NEW taxes and/or FEES that he is going to level at us Wisconsin taxpayers individually and on our small businesses.

If we don’t flush Diamond Jim down the Doyle-lett soon, Wisconsin is really going to stink!   How much (more) damage to a State can one man and his NEW ADDITIONAL taxes and fees do? 

 

Signup to help us RECALL DOYLE at www.RecallDoyle.com.  Do it now, we don’t have any MONEY to waste!

 

Rep. Roger Roth’s daily effort to Save Our State from the state budget being debated in Madison.

 

To add to the S.O.S. list contact Representative Roth at:

 

State Capitol: P.O.Box 8953 Madison Wisconsin 53708

(608) 266-7500 Fax (608)282-3656 Rep.Roth@legis.wi.gov

 

1.) The Birth Tax. – The department of health services is being allowed to increase the cost of getting a copy of a birth certificate. The cost of a copy of a birth certificate was to be $10 after July 1st, 2010. However the department will be able to ignore a sunset provision that raised the cost of a copy from $10 to $20 and still add another two dollars to the cost.

Your final cost for a copy of a birth certificate will be $22. Additional copies will go from $3 to $5. Happy birthday and welcome to Wisconsin!

 

2.) The Car Loan Tax. - The department of transportation will be allowed to increase the fee to have a title lien filed on the sale of a vehicle. The increase is 150% and will take the cost to file from $4 to $10. Evidently the sales tax and vehicle registration fee was not enough to squeeze out of the sale of a vehicle.

 

3.) The Repeal the QEO Tax– Ok, it really isn’t a tax, however it may as well be one. There will be two additional attorneys hired at a cost of $195,000 to the taxpayers. Their sole responsibility seems to be to ensure the QEO language is eliminated from state statute. As if the repeal of the QEO wont be bad enough, we had to go find more attorneys to employ.

 

4.) The Hidden Mutual Fund Tax– Currently the department of Financial Institutions charges a fee of $750 for every registration and notice of filing. The budget asks for an increase of 33% to bring the fee (tax) to $1000. What makes this increase even worse is that the $850,000 of additional program revenue is expected to be lapsed into the general fund. In other words, there is no compelling reason to increase this tax other than to create a bigger pile of cash to add to the general fund.

 

5.) The Airline Tax– The proposed budget will change the way that an ‘air carrier’ will be taxed. Instead of paying just for the passengers or freight that arrives or departs from the state, the air carrier will now pay a single sales factor rate. The new method used to impose the tax is expected to increase the tax burden on air carriers in Wisconsin by $4 Million dollars each year. Imposing a higher tax burden on such an obviously struggling industry is just plain wrong.

 

6.) The Flatbed Tax– It turns out that at least on person drafting the Governors budget was worried that a tax might be lost. The proposed budget recommends a language change be made to include the flatbed ‘hauling’ of a vehicle as a taxable service. Turns out that the previous definition could have allowed a vehicle that was being ‘hauled’, not ‘towed’, to avoid paying the sales tax on that service. With the quick thinking of the drafter, the State will not chance losing out on the $4.9 Million dollars in taxes they soak you for if you need to have your vehicle ‘Towed.’

 

7.) The Multiple Business Tax- Under the proposed Budget, a single owner of multiple companies will not be allow file and pay taxes separately for each of the multiple companies. The net result of having to treat the multiple companies as one entity will be to soak another $40.8 Million dollars from these employers. These are usually the small and medium sized companies that are the core of our states economy. In addition to sucking up more tax dollars, this effort should also cause an increase in a cost of materials often used in building government and other exempt properties. Guess we have to

make sure that the government pays its fair share!

 

8.) Super Research and Development Tax Credit– Well in the honor of Good Friday, something that is actually good in the proposed budget will be highlighted in today’s report. The super research and development tax credit is exactly the type of item that this budget should contain. It allows for a larger credit be received by a company to offset tax liability. It also doubles the % tax credit for certain industries. The net result of this effort will be to reduce the burden on companies doing this type of work by $5 Million during this budget cycle. It is unclear how this slipped into the budget, but it is one of the few items that deserve everyone’s support.

 

9.) Sales and Use Tax Exemptions for Bio-tech and Manufacturing Research– This would be a second straight day of finding items in the budget that are good for businesses and the taxpayers in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the benefit of having this exemption will not take place during this budget. The estimated $10 Million a year savings to businesses doing this type of work wont be seen until January 1, 2012. Why would this item be in this budget if it doesn’t begin until after this budget is finished? This is a good benefit, good enough to be included on this budget!

 

10) The Head in the Sand Adjustment– As it stands; this part of the budget doesn’t cost the taxpayers any additional money when it is signed into law. The danger with this effort by the Governor is that he will now be able to ignore budget shortfalls. The current law requires budget adjustment Bill to be put together at .5% of the GPR appropriations. The limit is to be raised to 2.0% if this stays in the budget. That would take the current trigger at $67.1 Million and raise it to $268.4 Million. This allows a sizable problem to become a real big problem before we deal with it. As the saying goes, when

you find yourself in a hole stop digging, well this adjustment will have us in a huge hole before we stop digging the hole.

 

11) The Building Art Tax– On a day that so many fellow citizens are paying their taxes it is important to really ask what is the value of certain programs in the state budget. One has to question the value of adding .2% to the cost of major building projects in Wisconsin. The percent for the arts program already has funding of $446,600. With the increase in spending that we are seeing in the building programs, it is expected to cost taxpayers another $157,000 to purchase additional works of art. If this is part of the bonding that we do, it will just add to the long term cost of doing this. One would think we would have enough art in storage to allow this program to be put on the shelf.

 

12.) The Seat Belt Tax. - This budget will allow police to conduct primary enforcement of the seatbelt law, which is not necessarily a bad thing except the Governor has decided to increase the tax by 150%. This will take the penalty from $10 to $25. So in keeping with the other kind-of-good things in the budget, the Governor takes a policy issue and finds a way to get more money out of Wisconsin taxpayers’ pockets.

 

13.) DNR Chief Legal Advisor Tax– In the previous budget, attorney positions were consolidated to the Department of Administration (DOA). The move was designed to reduce the number of legal positions needed and maximize the use of these positions. Well, no sooner than the attorneys are moved to the DOA, we find out that a new position is being created to provide legal advice. So at a cost of $179,500 a year a new lawyer position will help the DNR Secretary with legal questions. One non-legal question, why didn’t we just leave one of the other lawyers behind to do this work instead of creating a cushy new position for a legal buddy of the Secretary?

 

14.) Another Segregated Fund Raid Tax– Not that it is surprising, there is a fund that has cash in it that is being raided to support other spending. The agrichemical management (ACM) fund and the agricultural chemical cleanup (ACCP) fund both are being raided to put $2.5 Million dollars in the general fund. This tax is just pathetic. First off it is apparent that the tax is too high as the ACM and ACCP have constantly been raided. Additionally, the costs associated with this tax is most certainly being passed on to the farmers and then onto the cost of food in the grocery stores.

 

15.) The Garbage Tax– In keeping with the fine tradition that a little of something is good and more of something is better, well then this higher tax is for you. The Governor is asking to increase the tax on ‘Garbage’ from 75 cents to $1.05. This increase in the tipping fee will add an additional $3.36 Million in taxes collected. What makes this even worse is these funds are used to pay off bonding instead of just being used to fund the programs that this ‘tax’ supports. Oh, forgot to mention the amount of bonding is being increased as well. Yep, more is better!

 

16.) The Lieutenant Governor Tax– We have to thank our friends serving on the Joint Committee on Finance (JFC). At a time when others are looking to reduce spending and tighten their purse strings , the Committee votes 11-4 to add a new position to the Lieutenant Governors office. This adds $118,800 to the bottom line in this budget. It will also be a tax that will keep giving as this position will add to the pension burden in the future. It is amazing that even when the Governor looked to reduce the budget for the Lt. Governor’s office by $62,200 the JFC finds a way to increase spending. Nice job if you can get it!

 

17.) Oil Company Profits Tax– It goes without saying that this is one of the most heinous and scary of taxes. It was bad enough when it seemed like they would tax the profits made by a company; well turns out they would tax the gross receipts regardless if any profit was made. It is well known that the result of the raids on the transportation fund has impacted the intended use of the monies paid into that account. The Governor has decided to try and vilify oil

companies and tax them to cover for his raids on the transportation fund. The good news with this effort is that it appears unlikely to withstand a legal challenge. So just how will the Governor find an extra $271.8 Million to cover the spending this tax was to support? Maybe cut spending…..

 

18.) Beer Tax– This is one new tax that is not in the Governor’s budget; it is being introduced as separate legislation. To paraphrase the Governor, it’s not that we don’t tax enough; it is that we spend too much. Guess that point was missed when developing this new tax. The hike will move the tax on a barrel of beer from $2 to $10. Now what this really means is that we will now have an additional $40 Million in spending that will be added to the bottom line. One has to ask when will enough be enough? Guess it is time to sit back with a cold one and wonder what will be taxed next…..

 

19.) Tuition Increase Tax– From the name you might guess today’s tax increase is the increase in tuition for students in the UW system. Well that is another tax increase. However, this tax increase is even more bothersome. The Governor is asking for an additional $12 Million to offer up as grants to help cover the cost of the tuition increases. Well this sure is an odd way of doing business, we increase the amount of money we require students to pay to go attend classes, then we soak the tax payers for more money to give to the students we are charging more to. Couldn’t we just charge them less money and not have to fleece the taxpayers for this increase?

 

20.) The Work Permit Fee Tax– This fits the mold being used all across the Governor’s budget. What makes this so pathetic is who is now responsible for paying the tax. The Governor wants to double the tax to get a work permit if you are under 18 years of age from $5 to $10. So we go after young workers to pad the budget numbers. As it stands, $2.50 of the current fee already goes to the general fund. Now the additional $5 goes into a fund to pay for information technology upgrades and administration. This tax allows the Governor to take the funds that have supported this in the past and use them elsewhere in the budget. So has it really come to the point that we need to take 3/4 of a Million dollars out of the pockets of young workers to balance this budget?

 

21.) The Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Tax– This is without a doubt the low point of the Governor’s budget plan. With the passage of this budget, the Fox Cities will have no choice but to be a part of an RTA. Even if a municipality opts out, they will be on the hook for financial obligations to the authority. This authority will have the ability to tax you (.5% sales tax), authorize bonds (credit card) and even condemn property (eminent domain). This is taxation without representation on steroids given this board is unelected. It defies logic that a plan designed to work in Milwaukee and

Madison will work here in the Fox Cities. Even  more appalling is the fact that the creation of the Fox Cities RTA is ’automatic’ but the Milwaukee and Madison RTA’s would need to be created. I just don’t know who could vote for this!

 

22.) The Vehicle Scale Tax– This might be the leader in the clubhouse for the most “are you kidding me” tax. The vehicle scale tax is being increased by $40. This will raise the tax from $60 to $100 for the purpose of licensing the scale. What takes it to another level is the line in the Governor’s budget that will allow DATCP to set a different fee amount by rule. Just incase the 66% increase is not enough. Of course that is not enough, if you operated a scale without a license, you will have to pay a surcharge-tax of $200 to get the $100 license. Is all of this really necessary?

 

23.) The DATCP Legal Advisor Tax– If it seems like this tax was listed before, you are close to being correct. The one that was listed before was for the DNR, this one is for the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). It is important to remember in the last budget, the legal staff was consolidated under the Department of Administration, but now we find more attorneys being hired. The cost of this particular attorney is $342,400 not counting any additional long term financial commitment for the employee. It would seem that the effort to shrink government by 10,000 workers does not apply to the number of lawyers employed by the State.

 

24.) The Boat Tax– Hope everyone enjoyed the inland fishing season opener last weekend. If you owned the boat you fished out of, well plan to spend more for the right to own that boat. The Governor’s budget includes a 32% increase in

the registration fee for boats under 16 feet in length. All power boats registered in the state will see increases ranging from $6 to $23 for boats over 40 feet in length. This fee increase is expected to result in $2.15 Million being taken out of the pockets of boat owners in Wisconsin. Now that’s a lot of bait!

 

25.) The Elk Tax- With the Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) focusing on the DNR today, it makes the choice of today’s tax increase easy. The elk application fee increase is without a doubt the most bizarre increase in the budget. This is an increase from $3 to $10 for the right to apply for a license to hunt elk. This increase comes even though there is not an elk hunting season currently in Wisconsin. Further more, this increase comes at a time in which the elk population is only at 75% of the needed population to even allow a hunt to take place. The sad part is that there are dollars (140,000 to be

exact) expected to be available in this budget as a result of this increase. So we increase a tax on something that doesn’t exist to spend the money we likely won’t have on something else. 

 

26.) The Educator Certification Tax– There is an item in the Governor’s budget that will increase general program revenue (GPR) spending by $1.15 Million. These increases will double the amount of grants given to teachers who are certified by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards or certified by the state assessment board. While the idea of improving the quality of our teachers is a fine idea, the current fiscal conditions we find ourselves in should prevent any increases like this. The fund used for this program is already base level funded at $1.65 Million. Perhaps the Joint

Committee on Finance will consider looking at this as an area to reduce GPR spending.

 

27.) The Great Lakes Compact Tax– Even in the case when something is a positive, like protecting water quality in the Great Lakes, the Governor can’t help but increase or create a new tax. This is the case with the implementation of the Great Lakes Water Compact. Two new ‘fees’ are created in the budget to fund this new initiative. The first fee is set at $125 for an annual authorization to withdraw water from the system. The other fee is not clearly defined and will be determined by the Department of Natural Resources. Words like ‘might’ and ‘could’ are used to describe this fee. One other item that is confusing about the structure of this provision is that the new taxes will bring in more revenue than the cost of the program. Anyone think this fund will be raided to pay for other budget items? I do!

 

28.) The Vehicle Environmental Impact Tax– Here is another example proving that once a tax is established, it is darn near impossible to end it. The Governor’s budget will kill the sunset of the vehicle environmental impact fee. The tax was supposed to end on December 31, 2009, however the change in the budget will make this tax permanent. The impact of this is an additional $11.5 Million out of the pockets of Wisconsin taxpayers each year. What makes this tax on your car all the more ridiculous is that the taxes collected are being used by the Department of Commerce and the Department of Natural Resources.

 

29.) Corrections Chief Legal Advisor Tax– This is such a frustrating experience. There is talk of furloughs of state workers and even talk about reducing the overall number of workers. But when it comes to attorneys, well we just can’t

seem to get enough of those employed. This is another of the new legal positions that the Governor has included in his budget. This will create a new position in the Department of Corrections that will cost taxpayers $179,300 each year. When you add the other two positions that have been highlighted in the S.O.S. Report, we now find ourselves spending over a Million dollars on new attorneys in this budget. 

 

30.) The Up In Smoke Tax (Part 1)- The reason for this being part one is that there are multiple increases and changes that will increase the tax on tobacco related items in this budget. The big one of course is the $.75 increase per pack on cigarettes. This increase follows the $1.00 increase from last session. The Governor figures to soak an additional $310,400,000 from cigarette smokers. What makes this increase so amazing is that part of the rational to increase the tax is to change the habits of smokers into doing less of the activity. So this is the one time that our friends across the aisle understand that increasing a tax reduces the activity. Now if they could apply that principle to the rest of their tax increases, we could fundamentally change government!

 

 

31.) The Up In Smoke Tax (Part 2)- Part two will focus on the moist tobacco portion of the tax. The increase in this case is a $.56 increase over the previous tax level. The new tax is now at $1.87 per ounce. It is expected that this increase along with the additional increases on other non-cigarette items will squeeze an additional $33 Million from Wisconsin

taxpayers. As if the increase is not enough, the Governor also creates a way to increase the tax on previously taxed tobacco product. Yep, if there is any inventory that is waiting to be sold, the difference from the previous to the new tax rate needs to be paid. And if you don’t pay, they will fine you and charge you 18% annual interest. This taxing an already

taxed item sure does set an interesting precedent. A scary one at that!

 

 

 

Had Enough Doyle T.E.A.?  (Taxed Enough Already) Then help us RECALL DOYLE, get more information and signup as a Volunteer at www.RecallDoyle.com