Dear Governor Scott Walker,
Thank you for lowering my property taxes. Your reforms are working.
Sincerely,
Wisconsin Taxpayer
From the Wall Street Journal, "A Wisconsin Vindication":
The public employee unions and other liberals are confident that Wisconsin voters will turn out Governor Scott Walker in a recall election later this year, but not so fast. That may turn out to be as wrong as some of their other predictions as Badger State taxpayers start to see tangible benefits from Mr. Walker's reforms—such as the first decline in statewide property taxes in a dozen years.
On Monday Mr. Walker's office released new data that show the property tax bill for the median home fell by 0.4% in 2011, as reported by Wisconsin's municipalities. Property taxes, which are the state's largest revenue source and mainly fund K-12 schools, have risen every year since 1998—by 43% overall. The state budget office estimates that the typical homeowner's bill would be some $700 higher without Mr. Walker's collective-bargaining overhaul and budget cuts.
The median home value did fall in 2011, by about 2.3%, which no doubt influenced the slight downward trend. But then values also fell in 2009 and 2010, by similar amounts, and the state's take from the average taxpayer still climbed by 2.1% and 1.5%, respectively. In absolute terms homeowners won't see large dollar benefits year over year, but any hold-the-line tax respite is both rare and welcome in this age of ever-expanding government.
The real gains will grow as local school districts continue repairing and rationalizing their budgets using the tools Mr. Walker gave them. Those include the ability to renegotiate perk-filled teacher contracts and requiring government workers to contribute more than 0% to their pensions. A year ago amid their sit-ins and other protests, the unions said such policies would lead to the decline and fall of civilization, but the only things that are falling are tax collections.
The political lesson is that attempts to modernize government are always controversial, but support usually builds over time as the public comes to appreciate the benefits of structural change that tames the drivers of a status quo that includes ever-higher spending and taxes. The Wisconsin recall donnybrook in June will test whether voters value their own bottom lines more than the political power of unions.
If you are a Wisconsin taxpayer, you would have to be a masochist to vote against Scott Walker on June 5th.
Barrett & Falk, both would take us back to Doyle policies that would have led to $700+ property tax increase.
— Scott Walker (@ScottKWalker) April 16, 2012
The reality is Walker's reforms are working.
Bad news for the Democrats/unions.
They protested the Walker reforms. The Walker recall was launched because of his reforms.
Ousting Walker for keeping his promises and succeeding doesn't make a whole lot of sense, now does it?
No wonder the anti-Walker proponents have determined they can't win if the election is about collective bargaining.
So, they'll try defeating Walker on other issues, like his War on Women.
That's a problem, too.
Scott Walker's War on Women is a figment of the Left's imagination.
Wisconsin voters aren't going to reject Walker based on the phony creations of Leftists.
We have our property tax bills.
3 comments:
Liars figure and figures lie. It is almost as though The Wall Street Journal and its think-alike friends have forgotten the 2008 economic melt-down left us only 48 hours from complete collapse.
The issue in Wisconsin is not taxes going up for home-owners. It is the revenue base and average income which results in higher revenues that is the issue.
Wisconsin suffers from a $6 thousand a year per capita wage gap with Minnesota.
Minnesota has hi-tech. Gov. Walker claims agriculture, tourism and rusty manufacturing will power our future as opposed to proven hi-tech gains in neighboring states.
It takes a lot of cows a milkin', life-guards and welders to make up for a small team of Phd engineers.
In Walker's War against educaton.... Even though he inherited a system that provided the highest grad rates and second-highest SAT scores, his response was to rape the system of $1.2 billion in state transfers giving money to hard-luck corporations like McDonald's and Wal-Mart, as well as bucket manufacturer's, creameries and waterslide parks.
In essence, Mr. Walker believes his regime can and should pick market-place winners. Just like the Soviets used to do!
In his travels around the state, manufacturers trying to become hi-tech, have told Mr. Walker they need more highly trained workers. The Governor responded by cutting $71 million from the community colleges.
Since Mr. Walker's budget came into effect, job creation in Wisconsin has been the worst in the country, with revenues hobbled, and incomes cut with no end in sight.
As the tax base has shrunk, he recently robbed a chunk of federal cash that was intended for those who were victims of the bankster foreclosure settlement to help pay for his mis-management.
Really, what we are seeing is just another example of Mr. Walker's failed history beginning at Marquette University, Milwaukee County and now at the State level.
Next stop for Mr. Walker is a run for the White House in 2016. Unless of course he is chosen as Mr. Romney's running mate, in which case, even liberal atheists will learn to daily pray for the President's health.
And, down is up
Walker's MO is public service, not greed.
"In Walker's War against education."
No, it is the teachers' union that is waging this war. Siphoning money out of schools to overpay public "servants" for doing a lousy job. Walker has made great strides to halt this problem.
"his response was to rape the system of $1.2 billion in state transfers giving money to hard-luck corporations like McDonald's and Wal-Mart"
This is flat out untrue. Walker has given $0 to these corporations. None, nada, zilch. No dollars.
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