In This Issue:
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1. RTA Gets
Scrooged!
2. Too Many
Bureaucrats
3. BadgerCare Blues
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RTA Gets Scrooged!
In a breathtaking display of arrogance and contempt for local taxpayers, the new Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority (SERTA) scheduled a vote to adopt an $18 car-rental tax in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties, on the Friday before Christmas.
With only four days notice, SERTA staff circulated an ambitious agenda for what would be only the second meeting of the new unelected board. According to the documents dated December 14, 2009, the SERTA board would elect officers, adopt bylaws and consider implementing the new $18 tax on car rentals. Their rationale for attempting to levy this tax prior to having an authorized plan to build transit infrastructure included:
• $1 million for staff to operate a transit authority with no transit.
• $46,000 a month ($500,000/year) for a public relations firm to
work on behalf of a transit authority with no transit.
• Incentive Grants designed to bribe local governments into supporting
the KRM commuter rail line.
• A bank of surplus funds to convince the federal government that
Wisconsin is financially solvent enough to build and maintain
commuter rail.
Thankfully the board declined to adopt the $18 tax—which would have represented a 900 percent increase over the previous levy. It also declined to reinstate the old $2 tax that had been deleted in a legislative “oops!” as state lawmakers crafted the taxing authority as part of the 2009-11 state budget bill.
Conservative talk radio and Wisconsin Club for Growth advocacy phone calls suggested voters hold their elected officials accountable for the way their appointees voted on last week’s tax hike. Complaints by elected officials’ to the press made it clear they were feeling the heat.
While the rejection of even a $2 car rental tax is a great gift for taxpayers, no doubt the New Year will bring renewed efforts to stick to it Wisconsin taxpayers. Not to worry, Wisconsin Club for Growth will be there with bells on!
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Too Many Bureaucrats
 It’s a good thing somebody’s keeping track of this, because it’s a huge wake-up call.
Monday Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) pointed out what it called a “historic, dangerous trend in the Wisconsin workforce.” Government employees now outnumber those working in manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin, for the first time since such record-keeping began.
James Buchen, WMC vice president for government relations noted something that ought to seem obvious but desperately needs to be said and repeated: “An economy that has more government jobs than manufacturing jobs cannot be sustained for the long term,” Buchen said. “Manufacturing is critical to the success of a strong economy.”
Amen.
WMC reported that Department of Workforce Development figures for November showed Wisconsin had 435,800 people employed in manufacturing and 438,200 government workers.
That’s roughly one in twelve Wisconsin residents. Measured against Wisconsin’s total land mass, it works out to slightly less than seven government employees per square mile.
What’s really disquieting is the self-perpetuating nature of the problem. One cause of manufacturing jobs disappearing is government employees peering over the shoulders of manufacturers and slowly, python-like, tightening the state’s grip on what they’re allowed to do and how they’re allowed to do it.
Controlling the Governor’s Office and both houses of the Legislature and walling off the judicial branch against any risk of competitive elections, the Party of Government practically has Wisconsin on autopilot for further deterioration.
The closing paragraph from a WMC press release says it best:
“In the most recent legislative session, the Legislature and Governor approved more than $2 billion in higher taxes. They approved increased taxes on businesses, increased income tax rates, increased capital gains taxes, repealed property tax controls, approved health insurance mandates, approved expanded liability for employers, and increased state spending by 6.5 percent. ‘That’s created government jobs, and killed manufacturing jobs,’ Buchen said.”
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Badger Care Blues
If you’re wondering what it will be like living with ObamaCare, look no further than DoyleCare, a/k/a BadgerCare, Wisconsin’s version of what happens when political agendas start shoving doctor- and patient-driven health care into the ditch.
The Doyle administration’s July BadgerCare expansion was designed to cover uninsured, low-income childless adults. About 40,000 enrollees were expected. That was a bad estimate.
In less than three months, thousands of applications were backlogged and new ones were being put on waiting lists before their cases would even be considered.
The Governor’s Office concluded this was evidence they were doing exactly what needed to be done and raised the ante, saying there could be “no clearer demonstration of the need for national health care reform.” The Governor was quoted saying “Despite the tremendous work we have done here in Wisconsin, BadgerCare Plus, and state plans like it, are merely bridges to get us to national health reform.”
That was in October. By mid-November, more than 30,000 applicants had been backlogged for over a month, waiting to qualify for FoodShare, a program that replaced food stamps for which they applied in conjunction with requesting BadgerCare coverage.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that state officials admitted being unprepared for the 95,000 requests for food aid that seemed to be triggered by the BadgerCare expansion. The Madison office processing applications was overwhelmed as early as June, the newspaper said.
As of Tuesday, a state web site was still encouraging people to apply for both BadgerCare Plus and FoodShare benefits. Get ready, America.
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