Boots & Sabers

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Category: Politics – Wisconsin

A long stride on the path of racial equality

by | 2046, 21 Jul 23 | , , | 0 Comments

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News earlier this week.

In the United States Supreme Court’s landmark ruling Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College, the court prohibited universities from discriminating against prospective students because of their race. While the ruling is specific to racial discrimination by universities, it has much broader implications.

 

The brilliant Justice Clarence Thomas revealed the broad consequences of the ruling in his concurring opinion when he definitively wrote, “the Fourteenth Amendment outlaws government-sanctioned racial discrimination of all types.” In the majority opinion of the court, Chief Justice John Roberts definitively stated that, “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”

 

It does not get any clearer than that. Discrimination in favor of one race consequently discriminates to the detriment of another race. Equality can only exist when we actually treat people equally.

 

For this reason, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, Wisconsin’s most important private organization in defense of the Constitution, launched the “Equality for All Agenda,” in which they are calling for the repeal of all race-based laws and programs. WILL’s accompanying report highlights several examples of how various Wisconsin governments discriminate on the basis of race.

 

For example, the state of Wisconsin’s Ben R. Lawton Minority Undergraduate Grant Program gives grants to anyone who is a black American, American Indian, Hispanic, or people who hail from Laos, Vietnam, or Cambodia. This grant program specifically excludes white Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, Persian Americans, Indian Americans, non-Hispanic South American Americans, and all of the other races that make up the kaleidoscope of the American experience. The grant program is inherently racist.

 

In a throwback to the era of “separate but equal,” the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers racially segregated student housing, “to provide a living experience focused on supporting students and allies who self-identify within the Black diaspora.”

 

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development launched the New Workforce Equity Grant program after the pandemic. These grants are awarded companies in southeastern Wisconsin that create training programs for underserved communities, which are defined as, “Black, Indigenous, and people of color, women.”

 

The University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine gives grants to programs that, “focus on underserved and marginalized communities, including but not limited to, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native American, rural, and low-income communities.” One can focus on underserved communities without segregating them into racial categories. Poverty, for example, affects all races.

 

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation runs a Diverse Business Development Program that only provides support to, “minority-, woman-, LGBT and veteran-owned businesses.” Once again, the program specifically discriminates on the basis of race and other factors that have nothing to do with the worthiness of the business.

 

The list goes on. The fact is that racial discrimination permeates our governments at every level. From the state of Wisconsin to our local government school districts, people of favored races are granted preferential treatment, opportunities, and money while people of disfavored races are excluded from these opportunities. This kind of racial discrimination was intolerable in 1860. It was intolerable in 1960. It is intolerable in 2023.

 

As Justice Thomas so eloquently put it in his concurring opinion, “the solution announced in the second founding (his reference is to the transformative 14th Amendment written after the Civil War) is incorporated in our Constitution: that we are all equal, and should be treated equally before the law without regard to our race. Only that promise can allow us to look past our differing skin colors and identities and see each other for what we truly are: individuals with unique thoughts, perspectives, and goals, but with equal dignity and equal rights under the law.”

 

Our nation has had a long road to racial equality. We have a long way yet to go. The Supreme Court’s ruling is a long stride in the right direction. Now it is up to all of us to see that the principles announced in our Declaration of Independence, written into the Constitution in the 14th Amendment, and affirmed in Students v. Harvard, are upheld by our government, our businesses, and ourselves.

Republicans Retain Assembly Seat

by | 0718, 19 Jul 23 | | 0 Comments

Good. It was low turnout, as expected for a special election, but the GOP managed to hold onto the seat by a decent margin.

GRAFTON — A Republican will hold the District 24 Wisconsin Assembly seat after Paul Melotik comfortably defeated Democrat Bob Tatterson in a special election Tuesday. The Grafton businessman, Ozaukee County Board member and Grafton Town Board member will replace fellow Republican Dan Knodl, who vacated the seat earlier this year after being elected to replace Alberta Darling in State Senate District 8. Assembly District 24 covers parts of Grafton and Mequon in Ozaukee County, Germantown and Richfield in Washington County and Menomonee Falls in Waukesha County. Melotik won Ozaukee and Washington counties by about 6% points each. Tatterson won by nine votes in Waukesha County, which is made up of nine wards in Menomonee Falls.

 

Melotik said during the campaign that the district remains a conservative one, and that he was the best choice for the seat because, as a conservative Republican, he has “a proven record of advocating for smaller, more efficient government.”

A long stride on the path of racial equality

by | 0715, 18 Jul 23 | , , | 0 Comments

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:

In the majority opinion of the court, Chief Justice John Roberts definitively stated that, “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”

 

It does not get any clearer than that. Discrimination in favor of one race consequently discriminates to the detriment of another race. Equality can only exist when we actually treat people equally.

 

For this reason, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, Wisconsin’s most important private organization in defense of the Constitution, launched the “Equality for All Agenda,” in which they are calling for the repeal of all race-based laws and programs. WILL’s accompanying report highlights several examples of how various Wisconsin governments discriminate on the basis of race.

 

[…]

 

The list goes on. The fact is that racial discrimination permeates our governments at every level. From the state of Wisconsin to our local government school districts, people of favored races are granted preferential treatment, opportunities, and money while people of disfavored races are excluded from these opportunities. This kind of racial discrimination was intolerable in 1860. It was intolerable in 1960. It is intolerable in 2023.

 

As Justice Thomas so eloquently put it in his concurring opinion, “the solution announced in the second founding (his reference is to the transformative 14th Amendment written after the Civil War) is incorporated in our Constitution: that we are all equal, and should be treated equally before the law without regard to our race. Only that promise can allow us to look past our differing skin colors and identities and see each other for what we truly are: individuals with unique thoughts, perspectives, and goals, but with equal dignity and equal rights under the law.”

 

Our nation has had a long road to racial equality. We have a long way yet to go. The Supreme Court’s ruling is a long stride in the right direction. Now it is up to all of us to see that the principles announced in our Declaration of Independence, written into the Constitution in the 14th Amendment, and affirmed in Students v. Harvard, are upheld by our government, our businesses, and ourselves.

Milwaukee County to Vote on Tax Increase

by | 1811, 17 Jul 23 | | 1 Comment

As sure as Chris Christie won’t pass on a free doughnut, yes, they will vote to increase taxes.

A special joint County Board committee recommended approval of the county tax increase with two key votes — a 5-0 vote by the personnel committee and 4-3 vote from the finance committee. Supervisors Sequanna Taylor, Steve F. Taylor and Juan Miguel Martinez voted against the hike.

 

With the committee approvals, the full Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors will take a final vote on July 27 on the measure, which would nearly double the current county sales tax from the existing 0.5% to 0.9%.

The beginning of a long winter

by | 1817, 14 Jul 23 | | 0 Comments

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News earlier this week:

One must give credit where credit is due. Democrat Gov. Tony Evers has had as successful a year as any governor in Wisconsin history, and he did it with strong Republican majorities in both houses of the Legislature. He has begun his second term in office with a lengthy string of accomplishments.

 

Earlier in the spring, the governor struck a blockbuster deal with the Republican Legislature regarding shared revenue. In this deal, the state would increase spending through the shared revenue program by a record $275 million. The deal also increased spending on government K-12 schools by a record $1 billion. The governor negotiated with the Republicans to allow the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County to increase sales taxes (without asking the voters via a referendum) to help plug the massive budget hole that threatens to put both governments into bankruptcy after years of mismanagement.

 

For all of those spending increases, the governor agreed to increase spending on school choice and to allow some restrictions and requirements on the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County in exchange for their authority to increase taxes. Milwaukee leaders are already threatening to sue over the restrictions while they keep the tax money. The Wisconsin Supreme Court will toggle to a radical leftist majority on August 1 and liberal leaders throughout the state are counting on the court to advance leftist policies by striking down conservative laws. The governor is also counting on the court to require onerous restrictions on school choice schools, which is why his agreeing to an increase in spending on school choice was likely considered to be a minimal price to pay for such government expansion.

 

Evers was just getting started. Taking the big-spending budget bill crafted by legislative Republicans that already increased spending by almost 10%, Evers used his powerful veto to reshape the budget to his liking.

 

The biggest change was in the income tax. The Republicans had written a tax cut into the budget that would have simplified and lowered the state income tax such that it would have resulted in a $3.5 billion tax decrease. Evers reshaped the tax plan to where it is actually a $603.4 million tax increase. That is a swing of $4.1 net increase in taxes with a strike of his pen according to the estimate by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The governor does not have the power to appropriate that money, so it will be seen in future years as an unallocated budget surplus that will burn holes in the pockets of politicians. We remember that we entered this budget with a $7 billion budget surplus that was completely spent.

 

In addition, the governor used his veto pen to give local school districts the power to increase the property tax levy by $325 per pupil per year until the year 2425. That is over four centuries of tax increases that, if local school districts tax to the max like usual, will result in an increase in school spending of $130,650 per student, or $111 billion increase in K-12 taxing and spending with the current student population.

 

The governor was not done. Not by a long shot. Evers vetoed the part of the budget that would have eliminated the 188 diversity equity and inclusion positions currently in the University of Wisconsin System. These are positions specifically designed to advance the latest leftist doctrine on race and gender. In an era of declining enrollments, closing campuses, and scarce money, the governor ensured that the primary purpose of using the university system to preserve and advance leftist ideology is protected.

 

In this same vein, the governor vetoed a provision that would have prohibited the use of tax dollars being used for gender reassignment or gender transition programs for adults and children through Medicaid. These programs will continue unabated under the governor’s watch.

 

The governor even found time to protect leftist interests in Washington County, where he vetoed a provision that would have begun the process to fund the joining of UW-Milwaukee at Washington County and Moraine Park Technical College into a single school. Both campuses have seen drastic reductions in enrollment, but the taxpayers will continue to support both campuses thanks to the governor.

 

All told, the governor delivered on his campaign promises and advanced his ideology. Under his watch, Wisconsin will see record increases in government spending coupled with record increases of property, sales, and income taxes to support that spending. He has reset the baseline of state government spending to the highest level it has ever been. His party has waged successful campaigns to put radical leftists on the Supreme Court to further protect and advance his ideological beliefs. 

 

Were I a leftist, I would be applauding his success in the face of a Legislature controlled by the oppositions. As a conservative, however, I lament that Evers has pushed Wisconsin into what will be at least a decade of decline.

 

Pray that it is only a decade.

Milwaukee Mayor Brags About Tax Increase to Ask for Campaign Contributions

by | 2235, 13 Jul 23 | | 5 Comments

Wow. The balls on this guy…

Friend,

 

This week, our city marked a monumental victory with the approval of a local sales tax by the Milwaukee Common Council. This new revenue stream is a triumph not only for our city’s financial independence but also for every person who calls Milwaukee home.

 

For the first time, Milwaukee will have some ability to control our future. This new sales tax means visitors to our city for the first time will be paying to help underwrite city services.

 

And, we as residents will ensure that we get to keep police officers and firefighters on the street, keep our libraries open, and make sure we can continue to provide basic services like snow plowing, garbage pickup, streetlight repair and filling potholes.

 

Over the last few months, I have worked closely with both Republicans and Democrats to get us to this point. While no elected official ever wants to raise taxes, this is an important step to keep us working towards our goal of a stronger, safer, and more prosperous city for all of us. The creation of a local sales tax now aligns Milwaukee with other major cities around the country.

 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the tremendous efforts of my colleagues on the Common Council, especially President José Pérez. They have been strong advocates for Milwaukee, and came together to do what’s right for Milwaukee. Together, we will continue to address new state rules limiting our flexibility, including finding creative ways to invest in our transportation infrastructure, supporting our diversity and inclusion efforts, and ensuring we are policing the smartest way possible.

 

Since taking office, I have spent every day fighting for the betterment of this city and every day it is an honor to serve. Though we have accomplished a lot, there is still a ton of work to be done. I look forward to getting it done.

 

I will be up for election again in April, and we must have the resources necessary to run a robust campaign.

 

I need your help now. During this crucial week, can you please chip in $25, $50, or $100 to help us gear up for next April?

 

Donate

 

Thank you for your continued support. Together, we are absolutely making a difference.

 

Best,

 

Mayor Cavalier Johnson

 

Paid for by Cavalier for Milwaukee

 

Cavalier for Milwaukee
5027 W. North Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53208
United States

Mileaukee Jacks Up Sales Tax

by | 1455, 11 Jul 23 | | 4 Comments

But of course.

What began as a tense and unpredictable day at Milwaukee City Hall Tuesday ended with the Common Council’s backing of a 2% local sales tax by a wider margin than required.

 

The critical vote offers the city a new revenue source to avert major service cuts in 2025 even as some council members said it would put additional financial pressure on residents living in poverty.

 

[…]

 

Afterward, Pérez said he was a bit surprised it passed with more than the minimum 10 votes required. Ultimately, the tax passed with 12 in favor and 3 opposed.

 

Milwaukee County Looks at Ways to Get Landlords to Rent to Section 8 Tenants

by | 0710, 11 Jul 23 | , | 2 Comments

This is a good example of the power of incentives.

“If Milwaukee County cannot use a metaphorical stick to force landlords to accept tenants with a Section 8 voucher, then we should consider offering a carrot,” Rolland told the Journal Sentinel. “At the end of the day, Milwaukee County is healthier when everybody can find a safe place to live.”

 

The Section 8 tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher Program was designed to help with rental assistance for low-income residents and families with a family income of no more than 50% of the median income of the county, roughly $27,396, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

 

[…]

 

In 2018, the County Board amended the County Code of General Ordinance about fair housing and included “receipt of rental or housing assistance” as a protected class.

“Big picture: the ordinance was well-intentioned, but after five years of it being in place we can see that renters were not getting the help that they needed,” Rolland said. “And today we know that punishments for landlords are unenforceable.”

Milwaukee County tried to force landlords to rent to Section 8 tenants and it failed. In the end, whatever minimal risk a landlord takes to avoid renting to Section 8 tenants is outweighed by the potential risk of renting to them.

What the politicians fail to understand is why many landlords avoid renting to Section 8 tenants. We all know why… you can identify the apartments in town that accept Section 8 tenants. They tend to be the ones that are the most run down and trashy. They are the apartments that we encourage our adult children to avoid.

Why? Because many (not all) Section 8 tenants treat their apartments like crap. They don’t care for it and often leave it damaged when they leave.

Why? Because they aren’t using their own money to pay for it. The tenant lacks the pride of ownership, even if it is rented, that comes with paying for something with money that he or she earned through the sweat of their brow or firing of neurons. There is no incentive for the tenant to care for the apartment because it costs them nothing to treat it like crap. Thus, many landlords avoid them because the landlords do bear the costs of damage and neglect.

So let’s follow the train of thought… if Milwaukee County creates a bundle of financial incentives for landlords to accept Section 8 tenants, it will likely work for some. More landlords will accept Section 8 housing. Why? Because they are no longer bearing the burden and cost of damage and neglect to their properties. That burden will shift to the taxpayers who are funding the incentives.

So in the end, the taxpayer becomes the forgotten man who bears all of the risks and costs and derives none of the benefits. The tenants benefit from subsidized rents. The landlords benefit from both the additional tenants and the additional incentives. The taxpayer is paying both bills plus their own rent.

Thus spins the flywheel of ever-growing government.

The beginning of a long winter

by | 0628, 11 Jul 23 | , | 0 Comments

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:

One must give credit where credit is due. Democrat Gov. Tony Evers has had as successful a year as any governor in Wisconsin history, and he did it with strong Republican majorities in both houses of the Legislature. He has begun his second term in office with a lengthy string of accomplishments.

 

[…]

 

Evers was just getting started. Taking the big-spending budget bill crafted by legislative Republicans that already increased spending by almost 10%, Evers used his powerful veto to reshape the budget to his liking.

 

The biggest change was in the income tax. The Republicans had written a tax cut into the budget that would have simplified and lowered the state income tax such that it would have resulted in a $3.5 billion tax decrease. Evers reshaped the tax plan to where it is actually a $603.4 million tax increase. That is a swing of $4.1 net increase in taxes with a strike of his pen according to the estimate by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The governor does not have the power to appropriate that money, so it will be seen in future years as an unallocated budget surplus that will burn holes in the pockets of politicians. We remember that we entered this budget with a $7 billion budget surplus that was completely spent.

 

In addition, the governor used his veto pen to give local school districts the power to increase the property tax levy by $325 per pupil per year until the year 2425. That is over four centuries of tax increases that, if local school districts tax to the max like usual, will result in an increase in school spending of $130,650 per student, or $111 billion increase in K-12 taxing and spending with the current student population.

 

[…]

 

All told, the governor delivered on his campaign promises and advanced his ideology. Under his watch, Wisconsin will see record increases in government spending coupled with record increases of property, sales, and income taxes to support that spending. He has reset the baseline of state government spending to the highest level it has ever been. His party has waged successful campaigns to put radical leftists on the Supreme Court to further protect and advance his ideological beliefs. 

 

Were I a leftist, I would be applauding his success in the face of a Legislature controlled by the oppositions. As a conservative, however, I lament that Evers has pushed Wisconsin into what will be at least a decade of decline.

 

Pray that it is only a decade.

Milwaukeeans Rage at Prospect of Higher Taxes

by | 0739, 7 Jul 23 | | 2 Comments

Huh. Who knew? Perhaps they should have been this energized at the ballot box.

Scores of Milwaukee residents turned out Thursday evening to voice their opposition to a proposed 2% city sales tax just days before Common Council members are set to take a critical vote on the new revenue source.

 

“They’re telling us if we don’t pass the 2% sales tax then we’re going to go bankrupt. Well, then we’ll go bankrupt,” Beverly Hamilton-Williams said to applause at a town hall at Clinton Rose Senior Center, 3045 N. King Dr.

 

[…]

 

The frustration residents at the senior center expressed over the sales tax — and the bevy of changes to Milwaukee policies included in the new law that allows the city to enact it — stood in stark contrast to a smaller, more conversational town hall held at the same time by council members from the city’s south side.

 

[…]

 

Before the Steering and Rules Committee vote on June 26, Ald. Mark Borkowski raised concerns about blowback from constituents if council members were to vote to implement a sales tax that doesn’t enhance city services.

 

“Current services suck,” he said.

Californians Move to Texas in Droves

by | 0739, 6 Jul 23 | , , | 2 Comments

They are like locusts. Let’s hope they leave their politics behind.

About 300 Californians moved to Texas each day in 2021 – a staggering 111,000 people, newly released data shows.

That is double the 63,000 that made the same move in 2012, according to a new report from Storage Café, which examined California-Texas migrations patterns over nearly a decade.

Of those that moved in 2021, nearly half were millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, and headed to counties around major cities such as Austin, Houston and Dallas.

The study found Californians were lured from their state by a number of factors, including cheaper housing, lower taxes and booming work opportunities thanks to Texas’ tech and energy industries.

Fueling that shift was the COVID pandemic which increased the number of people that could work from home, releasing them from traditional commitments that would tie them down.

Note that Wisconsin looks more and more like California every day – especially after this last state budget.

Growing government is our bipartisan pastime

by | 1319, 5 Jul 23 | | 1 Comment

For reference, here is my column that ran in the Washington County Daily News after the legislature finished their work:

At the time of the writing of this column, the Republican-led Legislature has passed a biennial state budget and sent it to Gov. Tony Evers’ desk for his signature. Evers is likely to sign the budget, but only after exercising his powerful line-item veto to make it more to his liberal liking. That being the case, the budget passed by the Legislature represents the most conservative version of the budget that was passed by a legislature with very strong Republican majorities.

 

From a conservative’s perspective, there is not much to get excited about in the Republican budget. There is a significant income tax cut. If that survives Evers’ veto, then it is a significant win that lets taxpayers keep significantly more of the money they earn.

 

There are also a few smaller conservative wins, like defunding the University of Wisconsin System’s culturally destructive and expensive diversity, equity and inclusion enforcers, but the only other significant conservative wins in this budget are the myriad bad ideas that were in the governor’s budget that the Republicans declined to include. But the absence of leftist ideas does not make it a conservative budget.

 

The Republican-approved budget comprises a very lengthy list of spending increases. It includes about a $1 billion increase in spending for government K-12 schools. Most of that is in the form of direct state spending, but the remainder is in the form of allowing local districts to increase property taxes. This is the largest single spending increase on government schools in state history and is happening in an age of declining enrollment and plummeting performance.

 

The budget includes another historic spending increase of $2.4 billion for capital building projects.

 

Part of the reason for the building boom is that the Republicans are paying for about half of the spending increase with cash from the previous budget’s surplus, thus reducing the reliance on debt, and using cash to pay off about $400 million in debt. Using cash to fund capital projects instead of using debt is only a good decision if one accepts that the projects are necessary. Either way, it is another huge spending increase.

 

There is a substantial pay increase for state employees, University of Wisconsin System employees, corrections employees, prosecutors, and public defenders. In the Biden economy with runaway inflation, many of these employee raises are likely necessary, but the Republicans failed to bind pay increases with staff reductions. Except for a few departments in state government, like the Department of Corrections, the state’s payroll remains bloated and inefficient.

 

The Republican budget has an increase in transit spending, half a billion dollars for housing programs, $125 million more for PFAS cleanup, and, of course, the funding for the (yet another) historic $275 million spending increase in shared revenue. There is even $2 million for the Green Bay Packers to help pay to host the NFL Draft. A few million here and half a billion there and it starts to add up.

 

All in, the budget that the Republican Legislature passed — before Governor Evers makes it worse with his veto pen — spends $97,407,275,400 over two years. That is a whopping 9.2% increase in spending over the previous budget. They managed to just squeak under a double-digit spending increase.

 

Lest one thinks that the spending is being driven by additional federal funds, the general fund, which is the state’s main checking account, is spending 11.5% more than the previous budget.

 

Even with huge legislative majorities, the Republicans’ best proposal is to grow government by almost 10%. That is pathetic. It is difficult for this conservative to muster the vim to rally behind the elephants when the output of the effort is just a larger government with a few conservative baubles as distractions.

 

As we celebrate our Independence Day from the oppression of arbitrary and oppressive government, I took the opportunity to, once again, read our hallowed Declaration of Independence. One feels the frustration building throughout the document. We appear to be at this point in the cycle of liberty:

 

“… all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

Evers Uses Veto to Increase Taxes and Spending

by | 1315, 5 Jul 23 | | 16 Comments

As predicted here and elsewhere, any Conservative gains written into the budget by Republicans have been obliterated. Evers has had a spectacular Spring in terms of getting almost everything he wanted from the Republican legislature while giving up very little.

MADISON – Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, a former public school educator, used his broad partial veto authority this week while taking action on the next two-year state budget to increase funding for public schools for the next four centuries.

 

The surprise move will ensure districts’ state-imposed limits on how much revenue they are allowed to raise will be increased by $325 per student each year until 2425, creating a permanent annual stream of new revenue for public schools and potentially curbing a key debate between Democrats and Republicans during each state budget-writing cycle.

 

[…]

 

Evers also vetoed the majority of the centerpiece of Republican lawmakers’ budget plan: a $3.5 billion tax cut that focused relief for the state’s wealthiest residents. Instead, the reshaped budget will provide $175 million in tax relief and won’t condense the state’s four income tax brackets into three as Republicans proposed, according to the governor.

Growing government is our bipartisan pastime

by | 0726, 1 Jul 23 | | 1 Comment

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Yes, it’s early – on a Saturday – because there won’t be a paper on the Tuesday due to the Independence Day holiday. Here’s a part:

All in, the budget that the Republican Legislature passed — before Governor Evers makes it worse with his veto pen — spends $97,407,275,400 over two years. That is a whopping 9.2% increase in spending over the previous budget. They managed to just squeak under a double-digit spending increase.

 

Lest one thinks that the spending is being driven by additional federal funds, the general fund, which is the state’s main checking account, is spending 11.5% more than the previous budget.

 

Even with huge legislative majorities, the Republicans’ best proposal is to grow government by almost 10%. That is pathetic. It is difficult for this conservative to muster the vim to rally behind the elephants when the output of the effort is just a larger government with a few conservative baubles as distractions.

 

As we celebrate our Independence Day from the oppression of arbitrary and oppressive government, I took the opportunity to, once again, read our hallowed Declaration of Independence. One feels the frustration building throughout the document. We appear to be at this point in the cycle of liberty:

 

“… all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

Legislature Sends Budget to Evers

by | 0757, 30 Jun 23 | | 0 Comments

Meh.

MADISON – Assembly lawmakers late Thursday sent to Gov. Tony Evers a $99 billion two-year spending plan that leverages a historic surplus to cut income taxes by more than $3 billion for Wisconsin residents.

 

The action now shifts to Evers, and the Democratic governor has promised to deploy his powerful veto authority over aspects of the Republican-authored spending plan.

 

Assembly lawmakers voted 63-34 along party lines to pass the 2023-25 state budget, which includes a $1 billion increase in state and local funding for K-12 schools, a $32 million cut to diversity programs at the University of Wisconsin System, higher fees for electric vehicle owners, and pay boosts for state employees and correctional officers.

Republicans finally propose a tax cut

by | 0726, 27 Jun 23 | | 1 Comment

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a taste:

Wisconsin currently has four income tax brackets. Under the Republicans’ plan, they would reduce it to three brackets and reduce the rates on all three remaining brackets. Simply put, everyone who pays state income taxes would benefit from paying less.

 

While the Republicans push for a tax cut and the Democrats oppose it, let us remind ourselves of why it is necessary. As this column recounted last week, Wisconsin is facing an existential threat to its economy and ability to fund government. People are leaving the state. Wisconsin is now losing population. One of the reasons is that the inherent mobility of the modern workforce means that people are moving to states that provide a good quality of life and a lower tax burden. The income tax is a big part of that.

 

This fact is particularly true for high-income people. Low-income people already do not pay much, if anything, in income taxes. According to those same Department of Revenue statistics, the bottom 40% of income taxpayers (474,050 filers) paid an average of just $303.80 in income taxes. That only includes people who earned enough to file taxes. Nobody is going to move to another state to save $303.80 in taxes. But for the top 40% of tax filers, who are paying thousands of dollars every year in state income taxes, the math is different. This is especially true for tech-sector professionals where remote work has become the norm. Retirees have been fleeing the state for decades in search of lower taxes and warmer climes, but the advent of the remote technical workforce has made this choice viable for professionals in the middle of their careers.

 

This column has long advocated for abolishing the state income tax. It can be done. It should be done. But it will not be done because neither elected Republicans nor Democrats have the will to do it. As a second choice, a true flat income tax would set Wisconsin apart and catapult it into the upper echelon of attractive tax states for mobile affluent professionals. As a third choice, the Republicans’ current proposal is a step in the right direction. It will not move the needle substantially, but it will help.

 

As it stands, even with this tax cut, the current budget proposals still increase state spending by at least 10% over the previous budget. That is an abomination that explains why taxes will not be reduced further.

Legislature Proposes to Merge UWMWC and MPTC

by | 2052, 26 Jun 23 | , | 1 Comment

The combined enrollment of these two schools is less than the enrollment of just MPTC ten years ago. There is not rational reason for the taxpayers to continue to support two campuses. Whether they merge or just close one, something needs to be done to adjust to the shrinking demand.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Washington County would merge with Moraine Park Technical College under a plan pushed through by Republican lawmakers Thursday as part of the state budget.

 

If signed into law, UWM-Washington County could become the second UW branch campus to effectively shutter its doors since a 2018 restructuring put the UW System’s two-year campuses under the oversight of four-years.

 

UW-Platteville Richland essentially closed at the end of this school year, a move that came after more than a decade of stagnant state funding, tuition freezes and declining enrollment that left the Richland Center campus with less than 60 students studying there.

 

The Joint Committee on Finance voted to shift UWM-Washington County from a UW branch campus to a “joint Moraine Park Technical College/Washington County operation.” It’s unclear from the motion what, if any, UW’s involvement would be post-merger. UW System could receive $3.35 million, pending the budget committee’s approval, to aid in the transition.

Republicans Push Prioritization at UW

by | 0808, 24 Jun 23 | , | 0 Comments

Good.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican lawmakers voted to cut the University of Wisconsin System’s budget by $32 million on Thursday despite a projected record-high $7 billion state budget surplus, leaving the university nearly half a billion dollars short of what it requested.

 

The cut comes in reaction to Republican anger over diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs on the system’s 13 universities. Republican leaders have said the $32 million is what they estimated would be spent on those programs over the next two years.

 

“They need to refocus their priorities on being partners on developing our workforce and the future of the state, and we’re hopeful that they’re going to be ready to do that as we move forward,” Republican state Rep. Mark Born, co-chair of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee, said at a news conference.

 

The university system could get the $32 million back at a later date if it shows how it would be spent on workforce development efforts, and not diversity, equity and inclusion programs, lawmakers said. The GOP plan also aims to cut more than 180 diversity, equity and inclusion jobs on UW campuses.

The UW System has been bleeding students and money for years, and yet, they have steadfastly refused to make any significant structural reforms to adapt to that reality. Meanwhile, they continue to increase spending in areas that don’t have anything to do with education. Until they prioritize students and education, the UW System should not be given more taxpayer money to waste.

Demographic destiny

by | 1648, 22 Jun 23 | , | 0 Comments

I’m still out, but here is my column that ran in the Washington County Daily News this week:

If, as the axiom goes, demography is destiny, then Wisconsin is facing a troubling economic future. A recent study by the WMC Foundation titled, “Wisconsin’s Demographic Dilemma” highlights the troubling trends that threaten Wisconsin’s current and future prosperity.

 

According to the study, Wisconsin’s population grew by 3.6% between 2010 and 2020. That is less than half the rate of the national average population growth rate of 7.4% over the same period. Even more troubling, Wisconsin actually lost population between 2020 and 2022. It was only a loss of 1,186 people, but that is a trend in the wrong direction when the United States grew by 1.8 million people over the same period according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

Further exacerbating Wisconsin’s demographic destiny is that the population is aging. The national median age is 38.8 years old. Wisconsin’s median age is 40.1 years old. That may not sound like much of a difference, but Wisconsin is one of only 14 states with a median age older than 40 and is tied with Michigan with the oldest median age in the Midwest. An aging population means fewer people working and fewer younger people entering the workforce to support the government programs funding the social safety net. To put it in perspective, Wisconsin’s population in the 65-to-85 age bracket grew by a whopping 41.7% since 2010. Over the same period, Wisconsin’s population in the 5-to-17 age bracket declined by 2.2%. If these trends continue, the consequences for the state’s economy are severe. As of April of this year, Wisconsin has a labor participation rate of 64.8% as compared to 75% in the late 1990s. A full 10% of Wisconsin’s working- age people are opting out of work compared to 15 years ago at the same time that Wisconsin’s working-age population declined by almost 18,000 people between 2010 and 2020. Fewer working age people. Fewer working age people actually working. No wonder Wisconsin currently has about 2.4 job openings for every unemployed person in the state according to the latest data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

 

The reasons for Wisconsin’s shrinking and aging population are twofold. First, there has been a dramatic decline in the birth rate. Wisconsin is not immune from the national collapse of the birth rate being driven by cultural and economic trends that were accelerated by the pandemic. Meanwhile, people continue to die at normal rates. The net result is that people are dying faster than new people are being born, thus resulting in a steadily shrinking natural population.

 

Second, Wisconsin is on the negative side of domestic migration. For many years, older Wisconsinites have become snowbirds as they entered retirement and shifted their residences to states with warmer climates and lower taxes. With the advent of remote workers — another trend accelerated by the pandemic — many workingage people have taken advantage of remote work to move to warmer states with lower taxes. Meanwhile, fewer people are moving into Wisconsin from other states. The net result is another steady drain on the state’s population.

 

Offsetting the dual population drains of a natural population decline coupled with a net loss in domestic migration is an increase of international immigration into the state. Almost 12,000 immigrants from other countries found their way to Wisconsin to add to the population. That was not enough to offset the population drains, thus resulting in Wisconsin losing total population since 2020.

 

The consequences of a declining population are pervasive. As companies fail to find an available workforce, they will continue to look to other states to expand or move. As businesses leave, more people follow them, thus exacerbating the population decline. Fewer people means a decreasing tax base and fewer services or amenities to attract people. It is not quite a death spiral, but it is certainly a problem that will force years of unpleasant choices.

 

From a public policy perspective, there is not much that government can do to stem or reverse the declining birth rate. There are, however, public policy choices that would attract more working-age people and their families. The WMC Foundation’s report suggests a few policy recommendations, but they do not go far enough. It is a competitive country out there and Wisconsin is an afterthought when people are considering a move.

 

If state lawmakers are going to be serious about attracting more people to our wonderful state, they need to dramatically decrease the tax burden. Small changes will not be noticed. Nobody notices when another state lowers its income tax rate. They do notice when states eliminate the income tax. Wisconsin should use the budget surplus to mitigate the impact of eliminating Wisconsin’s income tax to attract high-income families to move to the state.

 

When those high-income families arrive, they will want great schools for their kids. Wisconsin’s reputation for great schools has faded as educational outcomes have eroded. In modern Wisconsin, less than half of kids read or do math at grade level. Wisconsin needs to dramatically reform schools to deliver the outcomes that Wisconsin’s kids deserve. That reform begins with universal school choice to allow the money to flow to the schools that work.

 

There are many other policies that should be done, but dramatic tax and education reform would put Wisconsin at the top of the list for the smart, mobile, high-income people that Wisconsin needs to secure its economic future.

Let kids work: Power of work yields lessons for lifetime

by | 0458, 13 Jun 23 | , , | 13 Comments

Yes, I’m still on vacation, but I wrote a couple of columns ahead of time. Check out my most recent colum from the Washington County Daily News.

Wisconsin Republicans have joined a widespread effort to ease child labor laws to allow more kids to work more often in more places. While advertised as a way to help ease the national labor shortage, it is the kids who will benefit most if the laws are relaxed.

 

Contrary to the squeals of opposition, nobody supports businesses exploiting child labor. Those who wear shoes and carry phones produced by child labor in other countries seem to be the most vocal about relaxing America’s childlabor laws, but no American wants child sweatshops in our nation. The proposals being discussed are targeted efforts to make it easier for more kids to work.

 

One bill in Wisconsin, for example, would allow servers between the age of 14 and 17 to serve alcohol. The current law prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from serving alcohol. We have all seen how this works in the real world. When dining at a supper club, the 17-yearold server brings everything to your table except the old fashioneds. The poor server has to have the bartender or an adult server to bring your drinks. This is a rule that has no purpose unless one thinks that 16-year-old servers would slurp customers’ drinks on the way to the table. This change in law would simply allow the server who is already working to carry alcohol 40 feet from the bar to the table.

 

Other states like Ohio are asking the federal government to allow students aged 14 and 15 to work until 9 p.m. on school days. Current laws prohibit them working after 7 p.m., which effectively eliminates the ability for these teens to work during the school week if they are involved in after-school activities. Busy, productive teens are often participating in after-school activities.

 

What we have seen in the past few decades is that people are beginning their working lives later and later. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median age of a worker in 2001 was 39.6 years. In 2021, it had risen to 41.7 years. It is projected to be 42.6 years in 2031. What is driving this is that older people are working to later in life while younger people are entering the workforce much later. The number of 16- to 19-year-olds in the workforce dropped from 7.9 million to 5.9 million between 2001 and 2021, and is projected to drop to 4.9 million by 2031. That is a 38% drop in teens working in a single generation.

 

Over the same period, the rates of mental illness, anxiety, depression, and suicides have all increased for teens. According to the Center for Disease Control, feelings of persistent hopelessness and suicidal behaviors increased by almost 40% among young people between 2010 and 2020. While there are many causes for the rise in troubled teens, it is not coincidental that more kids are feeling worthless and lost as fewer of them are working.

 

What too often gets lost in this discussion is that there is an intrinsic value in work that goes far beyond the benefit to the employer. Work teaches young people the value of individual effort, how to participate in a team for a common goal, and accountability for actions. Working at an early age teaches people basic work ethics like punctuality, how to follow directions, professional communication, and time management. It teaches kids how to function in an environment where they are not the center of the universe, how to be productive with unreasonable customers and bad bosses, and slacker co-workers.

 

The value of work is that it provides kids with a sense of selfworth, pride, and dignity that no amount of self-esteem puffery in school and home can produce. These are benefits that kids will carry within themselves for the remainder of their lives.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson once opined that, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” One cannot be happy without feeling useful and valued. Relaxing the labor laws to allow more kids to get that feeling through work will lead to happier, more well-balanced, and mentally healthier adultis.

 

 

 

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