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DONATE
to IWF |
| To help us build a movement for
change in Wisconsin, please make an online tax-deductible
donation. |
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Accurate
tax facts for policy debates
It's hard to stamp out the false but stubborn
belief that the cost of state and local government in Wisconsin
is too high.
The truth is, Wisconsin is middle-of-the-road
among the states when it comes to the taxes and fees we pay
for public institutions.
See our latest
release on the subject.
For the best overview of Wisconsin’s tax
rankings, see an analysis by
Wisconsin Council on Children & Families.
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| Two
Supreme Court rulings undermine state’s tax base
Two long-awaited decisions by the Wisconsin
Supreme Court, released days apart in July 2008, have ripped
more holes in Wisconsin’s already tattered tax base.
In one case, the Court upheld the state Tax
Appeals Commission, which ruled that the Menasha Corp. was
illegally charged the 5% state sales tax on specialized software
it purchased. State tax collectors had argued that the company
bought prewritten computer software, which is taxable. The
result: an estimated $265 million in refunds that cash-strapped
state government will have to pay, plus the loss of sales
tax revenue going forward.
In the other, the Court ruled in favor of Walgreens,
saying that the City of Madison had used the wrong method
to assess the value of the buildings the drugstores are in.
This ruling might squeeze the property tax base in as many
as two dozen communities statewide.
See further details on the Menasha
case and the Walgreens
case. |
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Best
Use of Philanthropy: Revitalize Public Structures
In an open letter to Milwaukee businessman/philanthropist
Joseph Zilber, more than a dozen community leaders urge him
to focus his $50 million gift to the city on revitalizing
public structures.
Shoring up mass transit, expanding the role
of public libraries, and creating new youth recreation options
were suggestions in the letter, whose signers included IWF’s
Karen Royster and Jack Norman and which appeared in the June
29th Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel.
The letter was sent as part of the emerging
public dialogue on how Zilber might make best use of the $50
million he said he will donate to improve city life. |
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Epic
Systems: WMC Doesn’t Speak For Us
Epic Systems Corp., one of Wisconsin’s
best corporate success stories, has announced it won’t
do business with firms that support Wisconsin Manufacturers
& Commerce, or WMC, the state’s biggest lobby.
Epic, based in Verona, near Madison, is a fast-growing
star in the medical information business. In a statement to
the Wisconsin
State Journal, the company said it had strong disagreements
with WMC’s approach to last spring’s state Supreme
Court election.
IWF has long maintained that WMC uses its power
to support a narrow ideological agenda that is against the
best interests of Wisconsin business. Among other things,
its consant bad-mouthing of Wisconsin’s business climate
undermines progress on many fronts.
And Epic is not alone in rejecting WMC. For
the bigger picture, see Mike Ivey’s column, Businesses
are turning backs on WMC, in the Small Business Times.
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Progress on tax fairness, but long way
to go
IWF’s Karen Royster and Jack Norman detail small
but serious signs of progress in making Wisconsin’s
tax system more fair and modern, in their
op-ed article for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Royster and Norman note recent legislation that closes
tax loopholes and increases accountability for tax subsidies.
And they summarize six key steps that should be on the legislative
agenda for 2009.
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Non-profit Hospitals Own Over $6 Billion
in Tax-Exempt Property
Wisconsin’s extensive roster of non-profit hospitals
own at least six billion dollars worth of tax-exempt property
that could be generating at least $117 million in property
taxes yearly to help support local services, according to
a new IWF report.
The 124 tax-exempt hospitals and medical centers are located
in 100 communities statewide. Because they generally do
not pay property taxes, homeowners and business owners are
forced to pay the hospitals’ share for the police,
fire, transit, road maintenance, schools and other basic
systems of government the hospitals themselves rely on.
The report, Hospitable
Taxes: How non-profit hospitals profit from our out-dated
tax system, includes a table with data
on each non-profit hospital in the state, including potential
local property tax payments.
Also see:
»
IWF press release
»
Wisconsin State Journal news story (May 16, 2008)
»
Milwaukee Shepherd Express article (May 28, 2008)
»
Tax Exemptions For Non-Profit Hospitals —Channel
12 News Investigates
»
Hospitals' Nonprofit Status Affecting Taxpayers —Channel
12 interviews IWF's Jack Norman
»
Wisconsin Hospital Association Release
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Big win for tax reform:
Wal-Mart’s real-estate tax scam is now illegal
Gov. Doyle’s signature makes it law: The real estate
gimmick Wal-Mart (and unknown others?) have been using to
avoid Wisconsin corporate income tax is now illegal.
The Legislature closed the tax scam as part of the budget
repair bill, and Doyle signed it into effect May 16. In his
veto message, Doyle wrote that the new law “closes an
unacceptable tax loophole used by multinational corporations
to shift profits out of the state to avoid paying Wisconsin
taxes.”
The measure shut down the use of intricate tax techniques
to avoid taxes by having one branch of a company pay rent
to another branch of the same company.
It's a relatively small fix (estimated to bring in $15 million
this biennium) but an important first step in much-needed
corporate tax reform. It's a change IWF has long urged.
For more details, see:
»
Gov. Doyle’s veto message
»
IWF press release
» Statement
by Sen. Majority Leader Russ Decker
» Analysis
by Legislative Fiscal Bureau (see item #24) |
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