Wisconsin's Governor must have absolutely no idea how businesses operate or capitalism works. Governor Jim Doyle was elected to his second term this past November, and in both of his campaigns he promised all of us that he would not only not raise taxes, but would additionally put in place a "tax freeze". Okay, enough of you out there bought his load of bull to get him re-elected. I want to go on record right now and say, "Don't blame me because I didn't vote for him."
Doyle spent last week talking to various news outlets trying to explain how all of his increases do not qualify as tax increases. Some of his logic is sophistry, but some of his explanations make me wonder if he knows anything about businesses and how they operate. Doyle is proposing huge tax increases on cigarettes, oil companies, hospitals, replacing the 2% cap on property tax increases to 4%, and possibly removing the QEO for teachers. There are also fee increases proposed on vehicle registration among other things that don't get called taxes, but let's get real. If you have to pay something I don't care what you call it; it's a tax.
Doyle's proposals amount to a 1.7 billion (yeah, that B as in BILLION) dollar increase in taxes and fees that you and I are going to have to dig into our pockets to pay for. The worst part of the whole thing is the way Doyle is trying to "spin" all of this. He thinks the average Wisconsinite will believe him when he says that his oil company tax won't be "passed on to the consumer." He actually called this tax increase a "no brainer." He is trying to tell us that language in his increase would keep oil companies from passing on the increase to consumers. Come on, does he really not know how businesses operate? Businesses always pass on their costs to consumers, and paying taxes is one of the costs of doing business that gets passed on. I'm not picking on oil companies here either. All companies do this; if a company can't cover the cost of doing business AND make a profit they won't be in business very long. Oil companies will get this tax money back. They can call the increase to the customer anything they want and there isn't a darn thing the Governor of Wisconsin can do about it.
Democrats always say that they are "for the little guy." How, if that is actually true, can Doyle justify increasing the tax on a pack of cigarettes from 77 cents a pack to $2.02 a pack. Who is this going to hit the hardest? A "rich" person who smokes can absorb the $1.25 increase per pack a whole lot easier than a "poor" person. Doyle says the increased money would help cover the costs of health care and help wean people off of smoking. Huh? If he really believes this will help people stop smoking then he would have projected the money this will generate a lot lower. The whole thought process behind his increase is wrong. But, he knows that no one will object to this because even smokers won't raise any objections to it. If democrats really want to help the little guy why not out law all tobacco products? They will never do this because while they say they are against smoking; they sure do like all of the tax money collected on the backs of tobacco.
Doyle's tax on hospitals amounts to nothing more than a shell game in which he not only gets to punish hospitals that do well, but also get federal money in the process. In a democrats mind any money that the federal government offers must be spent. Even if you have to raise taxes to do it. Where does he think this federal money comes from? Once again, we the tax payers have supplied the federal government with the money that Doyle wants. He tries to claim that hospitals will end up getting more money in the long run. That only works if the State makes good on its promise to give them the money. If I ran a hospital I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. Once again Doyle misses the main point that the cost of this new tax will be passed on to its customers who happen to be sick.
At what point will the public tell Doyle enough is enough? Are we all just sheep who do what ever this Governor says? If that's the case then we really do deserve the government we elect.
