Notes from the West Wing
By
State Representative Garey Bies
Tax Increases in the Budget
Well, by now, if you’ve had any interest in the State Budget, you know that the budget as introduced to the legislature includes a total of $1.748 billion in tax increases. This breaks down to a total of $313.15 for every man, woman and child in the state or over $1,250 for a family of four. Likely, you’ve questioned these numbers, so for this edition of Notes from the West Wing, I thought I would talk about where these numbers come from.
First, let me get the following out of the way: the numbers used in this column come from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The Fiscal Bureau is the agency that provides the analysis of the state budget for the State Assembly and State Senate.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s get to the tax increases!
The tax increase that has received the most publicity this spring is the Cigarette Tax. Over the biennium, the budget increases this tax by a total of $546,200,000. This is the single largest portion of the tax increase, but certainly isn’t the only one. Following a close second is the Hospital Tax which will increase taxes by a total of $418,259,300. In third place is the Oil Company Tax totaling $272,122,700.
I guess at this time I should make the point that taxes, no matter where they are applied in the provision of a service or good, are always ultimately borne by the consumer. The cost of a good or service is always paid by the consumer, and taxes are part of the cost.
The next two big tax increases proposed in the Democrats’ budget is the increase to the Vehicle Registration Fee and the Real Estate Transfer Tax. Your car and home don’t escape the tax agenda increasing a total of $167,949,000 and $142,100,000 respectively.
To this point I’ve only talked about the big-ticket tax items in the budget, but there are many more. How about the iPod Tax? This tax proposed in the budget would place a tax on any digital media downloaded from the internet and increase the tax burden by $6,300,000. There are also increases to obtain your birth certificate, marriage certificate and even your death certificate! This trifecta increases the state tax burden by $16,597,100.
Ah, but wait, there is plenty more! Tuition increases of $52,044,700! Want to take out the garbage? The Recycling Tipping Fee is set to increase $42,000,000. The budget even proposes increasing the Nursing Home “Bed Tax” by a total of $33,637,400. So between this tax and the Hospital Tax the Democrats’ budget increase taxes on health care a total of $451,896,700. That certainly isn’t going to make health care less expensive in Wisconsin.
I wish I could say that we were to the end of the list, but we’re not. Also on the tax agenda is an increase to the Drivers License Fee totaling $20,747,800 and an increase to the Vehicle Title Fee to the tune of $5,000,000. So, the total tax increase to your car is a mere $193,697,100 – and this doesn’t even include the tax on the oil companies that Wisconsin consumers will see in the price of gas.
The budget is indeed bleak for the Wisconsin taxpayer, but there is one more tax to list here, and this one just adds insult to injury: the sales tax filing tax. That’s right, if you file sales taxes with the state, you are going to be paying more to file the tax. A tax on a tax! Another $5,600,000 for the tax increase tally.
This budget as has been presented, loads on the tax increases. But I guess the Democrats needed to propose all these tax increases because in the same budget they are increasing government spending by a total of $4.5 billion. For years the Democrats complain about us Republicans labeling them as tax and spenders. But I hope you can see why I think that label is appropriate.
As always, if you have any questions or comments about what you see here, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.wisconsin.gov or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001. You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.