BusStop. Vote Yourself $43 Million Tax Relief

The November 4 Referendum On Transit, Parks And Emergency Services.

Attention Milwaukee: This is a Yes. Vote Yes.

This is real tax relief.

If we approve the referendum, we empower State government to deliver real tax relief. In two ways we are asking the State:

1. Please take these three services off of the property tax. Off. Removed. Gone. Vamoose. Forever.

2. Please shift these services to a one percent sales tax. Dear Governor, with your support we can collect $43 million from visitors to help pay for our city's needs.

"With a 'yes' vote, residents can send the message that community deterioration - which ailing transit and suffering parks fuel - isn't an option."<http://www2.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=807309>

So, where does the $43 million come from?

One percent sales tax (penny on a dollar) in Milwaukee County garners $130 million dollars. One third of Milwaukee's sales tax revenue comes from visitors. One third of $130 million is $43 million. This is budget balancing without raising our own taxes. That is a whopping $43 million a year that our visitors are ready to give us if we vote Yes.

If this referendum fails, that $43 million a year relief will not be available to us - no help from Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington Counties, from tourists and conventioneers, all of whom can enjoy our parks free, and use our buses with no investment beyond the fare box. And we will continue to support these services on the backs of our homes.

You may have heard voices telling you that in a few years the County will again raise property taxes to fund these services.

This is nonsense. The law we want passed by the State will forbid that.

Debunking the Four Myths of This Referendum: <http://www.qualityoflifealliance.com/node/6>

Your Tax Break

If you own a home valued at $150,000, your property taxes will decrease $167 under this plan. (Bigger house? Bigger property tax reduction.) The law will protect that decrease. County will not be allowed to raise transit and parks money from you property taxes. 

Yes, your sales tax rate will go up. But you will need a wild spending spree of $16,700 to lose that $167 in property tax relief.  And your spree through all the malls of Milwaukee are sales tax free if you are buying life essentials: food purchased in a grocery store or farmers' market, clothing, health care, prescription drugs, and motor fuel. Essentials Exempt.

Only the most well-off can afford to spend $16,000 a year on nonessentials. Well, if you buy a car. Yes, but a new car every year? Or that yacht. Yes. Or if you want to add to your jewelry collection, say, some rubies and diamonds? Or a Rolex? Yes to that too: Be my guest. Buy luxuries; help us pay for transit and parks with your luxury spending. But Vote Yes.

Why sales tax? Other cities fund these services this way. And as the city's economy expands, there is more sales tax revenue. As Milwaukee's economy grows we will have more money to grow the transit system.

Now, however, we are stagnant. Life in Milwaukee will only become more expensive - the worst tax rise of all. If we lose our transit we lose our sense of the larger community working together; we will lose visitors if we lose our parks. Low wage workers will only get jobs near home. Businesses will deteriorate or drift to more profitable but distant malls. Neighborhoods will become isolated.

What Transit Does For Us <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiPYmpPcAVA

Let's lower the cost of living in Milwaukee by getting tax revenue from everyone who enjoys our city. I don't want to shirk my responsibility, but isn't the best tax the one someone else pays?    Isn't the best tax the one that brings in more revenue as it improves the quality of our life?

In this referendum, we are saying let the visitors to Milwaukee help us out. A penny on a dollar will garner $43 million in new tax revenues. Visitors are ready to help. Vote Yes to let them pitch in.

Sales taxes can hurt the poor, but in Wisconsin the exemptions for food, clothing, and winter heating make this referendum an easy Yes. And Yes, boosting transit and parks makes the city more livable for all of us, regardless of our incomes.

Let's accept the financial help we will get from our visitors and make Milwaukee the kind of place people want to visit - and stay.

Bill Sell, Milwaukee