Journal Times editorial -- Call it whatever; half-cent sales tax hike would be a tax increase

From The Journal Times.com:

The Journal Times Editorial Board

Under the guise of correcting Wisconsin’s “over-reliance” on the property tax, a proposal to enact a half-percent Racine County sales tax is making the rounds for discussion at the county’s cities, towns and villages.

At a Mount Pleasant Village Board meeting this month, Village Administrator Maureen Murphy told the board: “In Wisconsin, we are unlike any of our sisters states around the Midwest in that we are almost completely reliant on property tax dollars to fund our operations. Clearly that has caused a lot of people to be concerned. Other states are doing better because they have a more diversified revenue stream.”

What Murphy, the City of Racine and other area leaders would like to do is get the County Board to approve a 0.5 percent sales tax — which under state law, it can do — and then split the money 50-50 with county cities, villages and towns out of the goodness of the county’s heart.

We’re not talking pocket change here; the 0.5 percent sales tax would raise an estimated $18 million a year in fresh revenue. Under the city/village/town proposal, Racine County would get $9 million a year and the rest would be apportioned to other municipalities: the City of Racine getting $3.5 million; a half-million dollars for the City of Burlington; a little over $1 million a year for Caledonia and Mount Pleasant; all the way down to North Bay which would get just under $11,000 per year.

Read more: https://journaltimes.com/opinion/editorial/journal-times-editorial----call-it-whatever-half-cent-sales-tax-hike-would/article_554bccd2-fed0-536b-942c-144a8a3002e1.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1 

Once again, the pigs that rule us ignore their own outrageous salaries and wastefulness to incur further taxation upon an already overburdened populace.  

FUCK THEM!