Hey Kenosha, Milwaukee wants your tax dollars

That's right folks. Milwaukee needs some help paying their bills, so they are proposing increasing the sales tax on 7 counties. Kenosha is one of those counties.

7-county sales tax for cultural sites pushed

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, meanwhile, said any discussion of an expanded regional sales tax should include help for City of Milwaukee police and fire services, Milwaukee County parks and various regional transit needs.

Main beneficiaries of a regional cultural tax could include the Milwaukee County Zoo, Milwaukee Art Museum, the Mitchell Park Domes and other major institutions that draw many patrons from beyond Milwaukee County, said Jill Pelisek, chairwoman of a Greater Milwaukee Committee study group on the future of Milwaukee County parks.

Pelisek said the regional approach would eliminate a concern, expressed by Walker and others, that a one-county tax would make the county a tax island. She said the seven counties levying a new tax could include all or part of Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Walworth, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties.

I understand that Milwaukee is in dire straights these days. Instead of addressing the real reason Milwaukee is in such huge financial trouble, they once again are proposing a new tax increase. Only this time- they want to suck the money out of Kenosha taxpayers also.

Scott Walker's reaction to proposed sales tax increase for the 7 counties-

Second, the real problem within Milwaukee County government these days isn’t that we don’t want to have a great parks system. The real challenge is our fringe benefits. Our fringe rate is in the 70% range. Most businesses are under 30%. It is eating us alive like a virus. We need help from the state government to change the laws regarding collective bargaining so we can get contracts that pull back on the retirement benefits and the free health care for life that we inherited from the previous administrations.

Racine County Exec's Bill McReynolds reaction:

Racine – Racine County Executive Bill McReynolds today stated that he is unalterably opposed to a proposal for a regional sales tax that is being floated by City of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Said McReynolds: “This is Miller Park all over again. I’m a firm believer in genuine regional cooperation, but this isn’t cooperation—it’s picking the pockets of the other six counties.”

H/T Sykes Writes.