In a precursor of what lays ahead for the state of Wisconsin, angry taxpayers will be demonstrating in Madison this Wednesday (see story). They will be advocating for no new taxes in the next state budget, which has yet to be determined. This struggle is just in its infancy. With the upcoming surge of babyboomers that are set to retire, our state’s budget will be a fight each and every year. With all of the promises that our state has made to the many public employees, the liberals in Madison(including our very own Kitty Rhoades and Sheila Harsdorf) will be unable to shift the burden of higher taxation from one taxpayer to the next. This is something that they have certainly become adept at. Please note the ABSENCE of both Kitty Rhoades and Sheila Harsdorf from the list of legislators who have signed a “no tax increase” pledge- See Signatures

Shifting the burden to “Some Other Sap” has been the favorite game of the Madison politicians for quite some time. In the last few budget “negotiations” the ploy has been to take money from the university system, allowing that very system to drive tuition through the roof in order to recoup the funds. Is this reducing the tax burden? No, it’s simply shifting the burden to another individual. And let’s not forget the “tobacco settlement” of $500 Million which was spent in the time it takes for a cigarette to burn out. We’ve also seen the creation of new taxes, such as the new wheel tax in St. Croix County of $10 per vehicle. Strangely enough, the county administrator in Eau Claire County is now pushing for the exact same fee. It’s funny how that works. There is no effort to make the structural changes that will be required to save our state financially. Just create another tax or shift the burden to another taxpayer.

This “Some Other Sap” mentality can be seen in the most recent partnership between WEAC, the Wisconsin Counties Association, the Wisconsin Realtors Association, the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association, and Wood Communications Group. This group is traveling the state and stumping for “lower property taxes” and “quality education”. Loaded audiences of school teachers and other public employees will be filling an auditorium near you (see first meeting) in an effort to convince the unsuspecting public that there needs to be a better way to fund education. What they are really telling you is that would like to shift the burden of this taxation away from the homeowners and down to Madison. Their goal is to increase the income tax. They don’t want the local homeowner to have any idea what comprises their budget and how much it actually costs to run the K-12(or is it PreK-12?) system. Shame on the Wisconsin Realtors Association for aligning themselves with such ultra-liberal organizations.

So what will happen in Madison this week? Many protesters will converge on the capital. Unfortunately the majority of those protesters will be those that live off the backs of the taxpayers (see story). So not only does the average taxpayer have to take the day off and pay our own way to Madison to make our voices heard, we also have to pay for the public employees to take the day off and pay for their travel expenses so they can counter-protest against us. It’s a wonderful mess we’ve created isn’t it?