Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don’t take it all
‘Cause I’m the taxman
Yeah, I’m the taxman
— G. Harrison, The Beatles
How serious is Madison city government about balancing its budget? Rather than address the over-spending that created its $27 million structural deficit, alders are chasing a rainbow-colored unicorn — a city sales tax!
The City cannot enacted a sales tax without the State’s consent. When the state legislature giveth it taketh — at least under Robin Vos and Devin LeMahieu, the Republicans who lead the Assembly and Senate.
City of Madison leaders are hankering after a 0.5% sales tax just like Dane County’s 0.5% sales tax on top of the 5.0% sales tax the state already collects. So that’s 6 cents on every dollar instead of 5 ½ cents — no big whup, right? On the purchase of a $40,000 automobile, that’s a $2,400 hit compared to the current $2,200. (No good to buy it out of town. Motor vehicles, boats, and RVs are taxed based on where they are garaged.)
A Madison sales tax would generate $35 million a year for city offers. Problem solved! City leaders recognize that the legislature is not going to bail out their 2025 budget any time this election year, but they hope the State will rescue them next year for the following budget. A measure to explore a city sales tax is currently before the Common Council’s executive committee.
But it came at a price!
The Republican legislature did throw Milwaukee a lifeline this year by allowing Milwaukee County to hike its sales tax to 0.9% from the 0.5% every other county is allowed, and by permitting the City of Milwaukee to tack on another 2.0% — it’s the only city so empowered. Our abacus says that computes to a 7.9% sales tax. But Republicans exacted a high price from the Democrat(ic) satrapy, namely, forcing the city to:
• Curb spending on diversity, equity and inclusion!
• Return police officers to the city’s schools!
• Maintain emergency services at state-approved levels.
One Milwaukee alder said those conditions “caused many of us to have a sense of anger, sadness and even depression.”
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Mayor Satya and Madison alders got to be hoping that the (spell it with me) Protasiewicz court’s new legislative maps will put Democrats in control in this election year because Republicans will make Madison pay for its Woke ways with large dollops of anger, sadness, and even depression!
Blaska Policy Werkes 
7 responses to “Is Madison willing to pay for a sales tax at the price a Republican legislature will charge?”
To be expected, once such a tax is passed and those “pie in the sky” revenues are budgeted for, expenditures for more useless programs and policies will increase by double that amount. There is no ceiling to how much Liberals will tax and spend other people’s money.
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This is a small symptom of a much larger problem. The pace of national debt accumulation is unsustainable. Neither party seems willing to acknowledge this. We are headed to a cliff. You can’t drink yourself sober!
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That’s just “good government” nowadays. In the words of one local rube “it’ll work out, it always does”.
If this is not the #1 campaign issue, we’re doomed. Hint: we’re doomed.
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Wheel tax. Sales tax. Next will be income tax. Does it ever end?
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So, Milwaukee alders are terminally bummed that trained officers with guns can once again immediately respond to school violence of all kinds?
Indeed, these alders should seek therapy.
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I bet they aren’t bummed about the big pay raises they are going to get with that new money.
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Allowing Madison tax itself to death with State mandated conditions seems very reasonable to me.
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