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April 16, 2007

Club for Growth Begins Radio Campaign Against Rental Car Tax

For Immediate Release:                                 Contact:

April 16,2007                                                 R. J. Johnson or Deb Jordahl

Wisconsin Club for Growth Launches Radio Campaign

Sun Prairie, WI ---- Wisconsin Club for Growth, Inc., began airing radio advertising in Milwaukee today condemning use of rental car tax revenue to hire lobbyists and public relations professionals.   The ad refers to the efforts of the South Eastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority (SEWRTA) to build a $198 million commuter link from Milwaukee to Chicago.  SEWRTA proposes raising the car rental tax from $2 to $15 to fund the local share of the project. The ad refers listeners to a Club for Growth website, www.pigsforrent.com , which was also launched Monday.  The website encourages viewers to contact their legislators.

The ad begins, “Less than 2 years ago, Governor Doyle and the legislature created a Regional Transit Authority to solve the transportation mess in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha. A $2 tax on rental cars was created to pay for it.”  The ad goes on to explain that nearly all the revenue raised by the tax so far is going to pay lobbyists seeking to increase the tax.  The ad uses humor and incorporates sound effects of pigs feeding at a trough.

In February, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that SEWRTA had agreed to pay a group of lobbyists and PR professionals $496,000 for 16 months of work. 

“This use of car rental tax revenue to lobby for an even higher tax is a blatant abuse of public funds,” said Wisconsin Club for Growth board member, Eric O’Keefe.  “Perhaps SEWTRA would be more responsible with our tax dollars if the members of SEWRTA board had been elected rather than appointed,” O’Keefe continued.

The Wisconsin Club for Growth’s website, “pigs for rent.com,” enables citizens to contact their legislators to tell them to stop using tax dollars to hire lobbyists.

The Club for Growth is a national network of over 40,000 men and women, from all walks of life, who believe that prosperity and opportunity come through economic freedom.

Wisconsin Club for Growth, Inc. is dedicated to informing, educating and rallying citizens of Wisconsin to embrace and enact policies that lead to sustained economic growth, limited government, and minimal taxation.

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