CLUB FOR GROWTH NEWSLETTERS

In This Issue

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 This is our 12th Wednesday Update from WICFG. We hope you enjoy the newsletter. Our goal is to be brief, informative and a bit provocative.

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Apparently immune to irony, the Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools last week unveiled a plan to raise property taxes by 16.4%.  Announcement of the plan triggered enough outrage to pack a public hearing on Thursday night with dozens of angry taxpayers, who testified against such an excessive levy increase.  Following the hearing, the MPS Board approved a levy increase of "only" nine percent, as if taxpayers should be high-fiving at the prospect of a tax increase of nearly ten percent.

The irony stems from how clueless MPS leadership is as to why they need to keep increasing taxes.  MPS has found itself in a vicious cycle due to its high level of taxation - they increase taxes at double-digit rates, which force more families out of Milwaukee and into the suburbs, which leaves fewer households to pick up the tax levy, which forces more double-digit tax increases on Milwaukee homes. Massive tax increases beget even more tax increases.

Of course, their stated reason for the tax increase is that the state financing formula somehow doesn't treat them fairly.  Keep in mind that MPS receives more per-pupil aid than almost any district in the state (9th out of 425) - and since MPS has nearly 95,000 students, that equates to nearly $1 billion per year in state aid.  Yet somehow, this isn't enough.  Furthermore, it isn't exactly the state educational financing formula's fault that so many children in MPS are born into fatherless homes with very little, if any, parenting at all.  The state can continue to throw money down the well of parental indifference, but shouldn't expect any change from the current results MPS is getting.

The MPS tax hearing on Thursday was notable due to the sheer numbers of taxpayers who showed up to be heard.  Generally, these hearings are packed with government employees whose livelihoods depend on increased taxes.  They are a small group of people whose self-interest leads them to their militant support of higher taxes.  Taxpayers, on the other hand, rarely show up to testify.  Since the effect of the tax increase is more spread out, there's less incentive for a taxpayer to take the hours out of their life required to complain about high taxes to some board that has probably already made up its mind.

Instead, many taxpayers choose to "testify with their feet."  Rather than continuing to take beatings from their local elected officials, they simply pack up and move to tax-friendlier climes.  This is in part, why Milwaukee's population continues to decline, while its suburbs are all growing rapidly.  The people that can move do, leaving the people who can't afford to move to pick up the property tax tab.

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Following passage of the budget, Democratic leaders had a sudden attack of conscience about raiding $200 million from the Patient's Compensation Fund.  The fund is supposed to be an irrevocable trust used by Doctors to pay medical malpractice claims.  The one-time funding trick will leave a $200 million hole in the next budget, not to mention the fact that the money doesn't belong to the government in the first place.

Of course these same Democrats who fought to include the raid in the budget to fuel their insatiable spending habit, aren't prepared to simply give the money back, they want to replace the $200 million raid with a massive new $418 million tax on hospitals.  According to Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, the new tax makes "political sense," and would mean more money for hospitals, as the money raised would be matched with federal dollars.

Keep in mind that Decker has been one of Governor Doyle's staunchest allies in defending Doyle's Oil Company tax, which contained a provision to prevent oil companies from passing the new tax on to consumers.  So while that proposed law explicitly recognizes that businesses pass tax increases on to consumers, Decker and Doyle won't concede the same result with regard to the hospital tax.  The Wisconsin Hospital Association readily admits that in the end, the costs of the new tax will be passed on to the people who can afford it the least - the sick. 

Thus, we can see the Democrats' plan for keeping health care costs down by...raising health care costs.  Next, we can look forward to their plan to keep crime down by letting criminals out of prison.
  

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Bring me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Packer Fans

On Thursday, the Wisconsin State Senate is scheduled to vote on a bill that will allow more competition in the cable television industry.  The bill will allow telecommunications providers to compete with cable television system monopolies.

As with anything that appears too good to be true, legislators of both parties are using the occasion of this deregulation bill to - well, impose new regulations.  Senate Majority Russ Decker has indicated his intent to amend the bill to require video providers to carry the NFL Network and the Big Ten Network, which carry the occasional Green Bay Packer and Wisconsin Badger football games. 

Both networks are caught up in power struggles with local cable providers, and as a result, few cable providers carry them on their basic packages.  Mandating cable systems carry these networks almost guarantees rate increases to pay for them - which counteracts the very effects of competition the bill is supposed to promote.

And since when did it become the job of state legislators to make sure we can all watch the Packers?  Is there anything left outside the realm of legislative responsibility?  Must the Legislature's first move always be to appeal to the broadest constituency possible, market forces be damned?

Furthermore, the Big Ten Network controversy has provoked the University of Wisconsin to start using its official resources to gin up support for the network.  On November 2nd, students, alumni, and UW supporters received a "Buckymail" e-mail from the athletic department urging them to contact their cable company in support of carrying the Big Ten Network.

So if you're a fan of athletics in Wisconsin, you're getting it coming and going.  Everyone seems to have an answer for your viewing needs, except you as a consumer.  If seeing the one or two Badger Football games per year on the Big Ten Network was important enough to you, you could get a satellite dish or go to a bar.  Yet your government thinks those aren't good enough options --- a testament to the seriousness of a state government carrying a $2.1 billion structural deficit into the next budget.

      Referendum Roundup 
Voters Decide Fate of $302.6 million in Spending

Yesterday voters in 8 Wisconsin school districts decided the fate of more than $302.6 million in new school spending.

Result: $145 million passed / $157 million failed.

Wisconsin Club for Growth urges taxpayers in these communities to ask their school boards why they chose to hold odd-year single-issue elections at an additional cost to the taxpayers rather than waiting until February or April when voters will be going to the polls to vote in other local and statewide elections.  
           
West Bend    $119.3 million---to build three new schools and convert/update 7 others. Vote was NO.

Sun Prairie  $99.6 million---to build a new High School and convert the High Schoolto a middle school. Vote was YES to
       $96 million for a new school.Voters said NO to a new pool
       and exceeding the revenue caps.

Hartford    $25.5 million --- to build a new elementary school, update and expand three schools, and permanently
       exceed state revenue caps by $593,000.to cover operational
       costs. Vote was NO.

Holmen   $17.6 million---- to build a new elementary and permanently exceed the revenue caps by $536,000 to cover
       operating costs. Vote was YES.
 

Galesville-Ettrick    $14.95 million---to build a new middle school and renovate the high school. Vote was YES.

Abbotsford   $12 million---to build a grade school and make other improvements. Vote was YES.

Denmark   $9.2 million---to build a gymnasium with two full-size basketball court, increasing space from 9,000 -
       25,000 square feet, and increase agricultural science space
       from 2,700 - 6,000 square feet. Vote was NO.

Prescott   $4.48 million---to permanently exceed the revenue caps by $4 ½ million to cover expenses. Vote was
       YES.

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