[note: an anonymous emailer forwarded the following memo to TonyPalmeri.Com. It is an action alert from John Casper of the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce urging Chamber members to oppose Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris' call for a half-cent property tax increase. For more information, see the MarkHarrisWatch.].

Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce

Action Alert!

To: Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce Members

From: John A. Casper, President & CEO

Date: September 12, 2005

Re: Proposed ½-cent County-wide Sales Tax

Wisconsin statutes (s. 77.70, Wisconsin Statues) give counties the option of instituting up to ½-cent sales tax to support their operations. The tax may be used “only for the purpose of directly reducing the property tax levy.”

Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris has proposed to impose a ½-cent County-wide sales tax. Specifically, he is proposing: Impose a ½-cent county-wide sales tax, coupled with 40-cent county property tax rate reduction in 2006 and a 30-cent reduction in 2007. It is believed that the ½-cent sales tax would generate approximately $12 million of new revenue annually. While the property tax rate reduction would lessen the net effect of this new tax, it would only be applied for two years, with no guarantee for the years following 2007. For 2006, the County Executive’s sales tax proposal generates $4.6 million (a net $3 million due from the ½-cent sales tax and $1.6 million from property taxes on new construction within the County) of new tax collections. This reflects an 8.6% increase over the 2005 County Property tax levy (2006: $58,014,371 – 2005: $53,414,371).

The Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce STRONGLY opposes this proposal for the following reasons:

We feel that reduced spending at all levels of government is the priority, not increased or new taxes. We reject the notion of raising certain taxes to lower other taxes for one good reason: taxes never go down, they just go up. This proposal shifts the burden from taxes paid by homeowners to sales taxes paid by homeowners. This approach has failed in the past to reduce the overall property tax burden. We are also very concerned about the sheer volume of new revenues the proposed sales tax increase would generate. The tax would generate an estimated $12 million per year. Allowing for sales growth and inflation, this means the tax would generate roughly $250 million over the next twenty years. While there may be a small hole in this year's county budget, the case has not been made for this massive tax and spending increase. While it has been argued that increasing the sales tax would permit the county to reduce property taxes, we have strongly rejected this argument. Every major income and sales tax increase advanced by both state and local government over the past fifty years has been premised on the erroneous notion that increasing these taxes would reduce property taxes. We don't think this is a credible argument. The proposed ½-cent county sales tax is a quiet, invisible way for Winnebago County to raise millions of dollars, without a measure of accountability. The County current budget dilemma was caused by spending and needs to be addressed by expenditure reduction. Growth in all levels of government spending is beyond our ability to pay. This trend needs to stop. The bottom line is that the County needs to explore every aspect of the budget to find ways to reduce spending and provide services more efficiently. Instituting another tax should not even be an option.

Facts to consider:

• Winnebago County is in the top quartile for county property tax growth of the 72 Wisconsin Counties averaging an increase of 10.4 percent annually from 2000 – 2003 (Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance, December 2003).
• In the ten year period from 1993 – 2002, Winnebago County’s property tax levy increased 98.4%, an annual average increase of 9.84% (Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance, March 2003).
• In the five year period from 1999 – 2003, Winnebago County’s property tax levy increased 49.3%, an annual average increase of 9.86% (Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance, March 2003).
• In the ten year period from 1993 – 2002, Winnebago County’s population increased 11.3% (Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance, March 2003). From 2000 – 2004 the County’s population increased 3.2% (U. S. Census Bureau and Wisconsin Department of Administration).
• In the period from 1993 – 2001, Winnebago County’s expenditures increased 58.0% per capita, 5.3% higher than the State capita average. (Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance, March 2003).
• In the period from 1996 – 2005, the Winnebago County property tax levy increased 84% or $24,388,745, an 8.4% annual average. (1996: $29,025,626 – 2005: $53,414,371) {2005 Winnebago County Budget, page 38}.
• In the period from 1996 – 2005, the amount of the Winnebago County property tax levy used to support county operations increase 69.7%, a 6.97% annual average. During this same period, the County’s property tax levy used to support debt service increase by 217%. (2005 Winnebago County Budget, page 38).
• From 2004 – 2005, overall Winnebago County property tax levy increased 6.04% (2005 Winnebago County Budget, page 27).
• It is estimated that the new ½-cent sales tax would generate over $250 million in new tax revenue over the next 20 years.
• A study conducted by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance in March 2002 concluded that, while the ½-cent sales tax provides significant revenues to counties, the analysis indicates that, on average, less than 30% of the counties with the ½-cent sales tax use it for property tax relief.

We urge you to contact your Supervisor before Tuesday, September 20, 2005, and let him or her know that you OPPOSE the proposed ½-cent county-wide sales tax. To contact your County Board Supervisor, please click on to the following link - http://www.co.winnebago.wi.us/CountyBoard/CountyBoardList.htm. If you do not know who your Supervisor is, please click on the following link and follow the instructions - http://wcws2.co.winnebago.wi.us/winnco/voter/voter_init.html. When speaking to your County Board Supervisor, the message needs to be clear – NO MORE TAX INCREASES OR NEW TAXES!

If you are able to attend the County Board meeting to speak to this issue, I would encourage you to do so. The meeting is Tuesday, September 20 at 6:00 p.m. on the 4th floor of the Courthouse. Should you have any questions pertaining to this Alert, please call me directly at 303-2265 extension 18.