In My Opinion Shifting taxes offers no relief

• Published in: The Milwaukee journal
• Main Author: Taylor, Robert F
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Milwaukee, Wis Journal Sentinel Inc 04.05.1994
• ISSN: 1052-4452

Of course, it's also we who will pay an increased sales tax and if we're typical citizens, our added sales tax load will have to be about the same as our reduced property tax load. After all, we are talking about the need to raise $1 billion right here in Wisconsin and there aren't enough "somebody elses" to pick up the load. The bottom line is we pick up $1 billion of new sales taxes and a quarter-billion of new federal taxes by virtue of the lost property-tax deductions. For this $1.25 billion in new sales and federal income taxes we get $1 billion of property-tax relief. Isn't this a good deal? Let's just assume that we can "find" the needed $1 billion without taking it from any voters/taxpayers. Here are some questions we need to ask: How is the Legislature going to do an equitable job of handing out the $1 billion in added school aids? If lawmakers use the existing equalization formula, lots of wealthy school districts won't get a penny, or will get far less than their "fair share" whatever that is. This means that taxpayers in those districts won't get their "fair share" of property-tax relief. Uh oh. Are we talking about the possibility of a massive redistribution of tax load here?