MADISON – Last week, a bipartisan commission of legislators – led by Republicans Sen. Luther Olsen and Rep. Joel Kitchens – released a report calling for significant increases in government spending and automatic annual property tax increases on Wisconsinites. The recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding would increase already high costs for Wisconsin taxpayers.
After the report was released, WMC Senior Vice President of Government Relations Scott Manley released the following statement:
“The proposal to weaken property tax caps with automatic annual increases is a bad idea that will hurt Wisconsin families and businesses. Despite the progress made holding the line on property taxes over the last eight years, Wisconsinites continue to face the fifth-highest property tax burden in the nation.
“This proposal will make a difficult situation even worse by returning to the days of automatic property tax increases. The current system protects taxpayers by requiring government to obtain taxpayer approval before raising taxes. Lawmakers must continue to ensure this vital taxpayer protection remains in place, and reject the proposal for guaranteed annual property tax hikes.”
