A "gas sales tax"? Does it change anything?

Just saw this flash by, and at first glance, it's quite the change-up from Gov Walker.

Gov. Scott Walker said Monday he is considering replacing the state's gasoline tax with a sales tax on gas and alternative vehicle fuel sources to stabilize long-term transportation funding in the state.

Walker offered few specifics, and the impact on consumers of charging a sales tax at the pump -- rather than the existing tax on gasoline suppliers that gets built into the pump price -- was unclear.

In an interview with the State Journal editorial board, Walker said "getting rid of the gas tax entirely" and replacing it with a sales tax is "a realistic thing for us to look at."

"Not as a revenue upper, but as a neutral conversion," Walker said. "With the idea being that that could be stable, versus something that's based on gallons of gas, which continues to go down."

At first glance, I find myself confused. The gas tax is based on how many gallons of gas you buy, but a sales tax would (I guess) be based on the PRICE of the gas. Illinois, Indiana and Michigan already charge a sales tax on gas, among other states, and there's no real difference in what consumers see when they go to the pump (it's internalized into the price). And I don't see how that translates into more money for the state's deficit-ridden Transportation Fund. Here's an example of the difference, using a 10% sales tax on gas, and why it wouldn't be that much of a difference.

Current law
10 gallons of gas at $0.31 tax = $3.10 total tax

Gas sales tax
10% sales tax at $2.71 wholesale = 27.1 cents a gallon
10 gallons at $0.271 a gallon = $2.71 total tax

A sales tax is still mostly based on buying the product, so I don't see where this does anything for shoring up a Transportation Fund deficit that could well be over $1 billion in the next budget. In fact, with gas prices going down and possibly staying there for a while, the move to a sales tax would become more likely to have LESS revenue (since lower price = lower tax). Unless there's some kind of flat amount of tax that everyone would pay, but how would that be figured? On a related note, Walker has generally opposed a Vehicle Miles Traveled system, and a "gas sales tax" doesn't sound like that anyway.

Which tells me at first glance that this is a lame attempt to deflect from bad headlines for Walker in the last week, and an attempt to get the Burke campaign off their game. And a former Mayor of Madison points out that it's an admission by the Walker Administration that they're largely out of one-time gimmicks when it comes to funding the state's transportation needs, mostly because of his stupid fiscal policies in the General Fund.

Walker opposes raising the gas tax and questioned the logistics of a mileage-based registration system. His first two budgets have relied on increased borrowing and general tax revenues to pay for road projects.

But those options will be limited given the state faces a structural deficit heading into the next budget, said Dave Cieslewicz, a commission member and executive director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.

"His two escape hatches probably aren’t going to be there in the next budget," Cieslewicz said. "It would make sense he would be thinking about a different option."

But the complete lack of detail tells me that Walker's misdirection play should be ignored by the Dems as a serious proposal. But what they can do is ask questions and demand details that maybe smokes out what Walker REALLY wants to do. Because as Capper well puts it, "With Walker, there's more, there's always more."

Stay skeptical, my friends. There are no rabbits left in that hat.

Vouchers defraud while public schools struggle to stay open

The Wisconsin State Journal’s Molly Beck was guilty of committing an act of journalism over the weekend, showing that numerous private schools whose students were given vouchers for K-12 education had been shut down over the past decade for underperformance, and at a huge cost to state taxpayers.

Over the past 10 years, Wisconsin taxpayers have paid about $139 million to private schools that were subsequently barred from the state’s voucher system for failing to meet requirements related to finances, accreditation, student safety and auditing, a Wisconsin State Journal review has found.

More than two thirds of the 50 schools terminated from the state’s voucher system since 2004 — all in Milwaukee — had stayed open for five years or less, according to the data provided by the state Department of Public Instruction. Eleven schools, paid a total of $4.1 million, were terminated from the voucher program after just one year.

So did the state get its money back from these fly-by-night schools failing? OF COURSE NOT, and the vouchers’ biggest lobbyist joined the State Senate’s Education Chair in saying it should stay that way.

Recouping money sent to shuttered schools isn’t a feasible option, since the money is gone, [School Choice Wisconsin President Jim] Bender and {State Sen. Luther] Olsen said. Bender said the money was used for educating children and not squandered in most cases.

“The idea that you would go back and get money that was used for education is a misguided perception,” he said.

Bender warned against assuming that, because some schools closed, the entire system has failed. He said when poor-performing schools close, the students who attended those schools can move to a school that is meeting requirements.

If a kid’s school fails and underperforms in giving a good education, the kid can just go somewhere else in another part of town. Shit, that's good enough for Jimmy Bender. I’m sure that’s not disruptive at all socially (the “new kid” never has a problem adjusting to a different school, right?), and I’m sure being 2 years behind his/her peers in the classroom due to the last school’s crappy job won’t be a drag on his/her learning at this one.

Does Jim Bender have a clue about kids’ lives and how to improve their chances for success? Likely not, but he doesn’t care about that too much, because he and his backers are getting paid well in the Age of Fitzwalkerstan. Beck’s article mentions that voucher schools will receive $210 million in state aid this school year, and Governor Scott Walker has mentioned that he would like this number to go much higher in the future, perhaps to the point that there are no limitations on how many students could get vouchers throughout the state.

Of course, unlike the number of students in Walker’s voucher plan, the taxpayer dollars to fund those vouchers aren’t unlimited. And often, voucher funds are accumulated by taking away state aid to public schools. Remember this picture I showed around a few weeks back, as schools were starting up in Wisconsin? Note which parts of the state have a ton of beige and red.



Those beige and red areas are where districts projected to get cuts in state aid for 2014-15. That’s not cuts per student, that’s cuts in overall aid, and a lot of those cuts have led to situations so desperate that WQOW-TV in Eau Claire reports that 83 Wisconsin school districts will have referenda in 3 weeks, mostly asking to raise property taxes for their schools. In many of these cases, the referenda are in small, rural school districts that need to raise taxes just to keep the lights on and to keep operating at their current levels. This is the direct result of Scott Walker and the WisGOP Legislature funneling off state aids from these districts, and sending them over into vouchers, which often go into these newbie schools that have shown no evidence of providing a quality education.

It is especially noteworthy that these districts are having financial difficulties 3 years after Act 10 was put into effect in many of these places. Walker and WisGOP honks may talk up the “savings” from Act 10’s “tools”, and sure, they did lower costs to the general taxpayer in the short-run (by raising the costs to that certain group of taxpayers called school district employees), but those haven’t been nearly enough to make up for the continual cuts to public education, especially in rural Wisconsin. Add in the problems in attracting and retaining teachers in many districts, with the huge amount of retirements in the field over the last 3 years and fewer UW System students entering teacher training programs after seeing the denigration of the profession, and you can see how imperiled the quality of our state’s education system is.

But you didn’t think Scott Walker actually wanted to IMPROVE education in Wisconsin, did you? Silly goose. He just wanted to throw more taxpayer dollars to Jim Bender’s and (convicted criminal) Scott Jensen’s GOP money-funneling operation at the voucher lobby, and hurt Dems’ political chances in the process.

So three years after Act 10, with the prospect of huge increases in property taxes and/or increases in class sizes and reductions in school services in the places that badly need a strong public education to level the playing field, how’s that “divide-and-conquer” strategy on education working out for us? If you’re not a rich person who stands to grab the new $30 million private sector tuition tax break and/or work for WisGOP and WisGOP donators, it’s probably sucked.

Lewis Black summed it up in his own inimitable (and NSFW) way at a stand-up performance last week. People who disinvest in public education are short-sighted greedheads who should not be put in charge of anything past a hot dog stand, and those who rip on public school teachers and call them overpaid are pathetic a-holes.



"It starts with education, you fuckin' look for great teachers, you don't fuck around, and you pay them, if you want your kids top be taught well."

What IS a living wage in Wisconsin?

In Friday night's debate, Gov Walker was asked about his administration's decision that determined that $7.25 an hour was a living wage, and therefore not a reason to raise Wisconsin's minimum wage. What followed was evasions and word salad that would make Sarah Palin proud.

My point is, I think the state should be focused on helping people create jobs that are much greater than the minimum wage," replied Walker. "I was paid the minimum wage when I worked at McDonald's as a kid. I used that to expect to save up for money in college; I didn't expect that was going to be my lifetime's work. We've got to have opportunities for young people ... to go forward. But at the same time, we've got to make sure that people are living off that to support themselves and their families have jobs that pay far greater than that. The way that you do that is not by an arbitrary level of a state."

After I got through my immediate "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT GIBBERISH?" response, it seems that Walker thinks that there shouldn't be a minimum wage at all, and that he somehow thinks adult Wisconsinites shouldn't have minimum-wage jobs at all. Well, that's a nice dream in Right-Wing Fantasyland, but it doesn't match reality in Wisconsin.

We got a glimpse of how many adults are in these low-wage jobs from a release by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) this week titled "Raise the Floor Wisconsin."

Poverty wage in 2013 = $11.36 per hour. Below this wage a worker cannot keep a family of four (2 adults, 2 children) out of poverty, even with full-time, year round work.

• 700,000 Wisconsin workers — 1 in 4 — worked in poverty-wage jobs in 2013.
• The median age of a poverty-wage worker in Wisconsin is 30 years old.
• Three fourths of Wisconsin’s poverty wage workers are white. But African American and Hispanic workers are much more likely to hold poverty wage jobs. While one-quarter of white workers earn poverty wages, 38 percent of black, and 42 percent of Hispanic workers do.
• Three times as many poverty-wage workers have no health insurance as other workers – 22 percent of poverty-wage workers had no health insurance in 2013; only 7 percent of higher-wage workers have no insurance.

Hey Scotty, do you think most of those 700,000 workers in Wisconsin don't want jobs that are above poverty level? And you've cut many of the protections and social services that would enable a low-wage worker to survive on such a small amount of pay (such as refusing to take Medicaid expansion that would have given Medicaid to workers that make up to 138% of the poverty line- an income of around $31,000 a year for a family of four).

So regardless of Walker's dog-whistle of low-wage jobs not being intended to be "my lifetime's work", for a whole lot of Wisconsinites, that IS their work today. This is especially true as wages for jobs have stagnated and declined in several professions compared to Walker's HS days in the '80s, if those jobs even exist at all, and it has turned people to have to take jobs in low-wage fields like retail. I noticed several adult-age workers at the registers and meat counters at my local HyVee this morning, and I bet your community's grocery store isn't very different. Whether you like that situation or not, this is the reality Gov Walker, and we need a governor who will deal with it instead of ignoring it by wishing it didn't happen.

We have a measure that one can use to find what a "living wage" is in Wisconsin. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has created a Living Wage Calculator, and has it for all 50 states and counties within every state. This calculation includes the costs for food, child and medical care, transportation, tax levels, and other everyday expenses. So we can click on the Wisconsin Living Wage page, and take a look to see what it might be for your neck of the woods in this state. I'll use my current town of Madison, and also compare with my uncle's second home in Vilas County, to see the differences there. And not surprisingly, it's a big difference based on your family situation, and for 2-parent families, I will assume both parents are working.

Living Wage Calculator, City of Madison
2 adults, no kids- $7.72
1 adult, no kids- $9.54
2 adults, 1 kid- $9.27
2 adults, 2 kids- $9.99
1 adult, 1 kids- $21.17
1 adult, 2 kids- $27.87

Living Wage Calculator, Vilas County
2 adult, no kids- $6.66
1 adult, no kids- $8.26
2 adults, 1 kid- $8.13
2 adults, 2 kids- $8.85
1 adult, 1 kid- $18.88
1 adult, 2 kids- $25.58

So the question then becomes what do we want as the standard that we base our living/minimum wage on? You probably can't go with the assumption of "adults without children", because as you can see, that's a major hit against Wisconsinites that are raising children. I would argue that the basis should be a "big-city family of 4", as a compromise between the extra burdens single parents have, and the lower cost of living that exists in rural Wisconsin. Plus, why should there be a wage penalty for living in a smaller community- they deserve high standards of pay and worker protections as well, don't they?

This makes Mary Burke's favoring of $10.10 an hour a lot closer to a reasonable minimum wage than Scott (Never Worked a Real Job Since Age 25) Walker's desire to keep it at $7.25. And there's a very legitimate argument that it should be higher than $10.10 out of sensitivity to the sizable amount of single parents that are in Wisconsin. At the very least, Scott Walker seems clueless to the reality of what a whole lot of everyday Wisconsinites have to go through just to make ends meet, and he is unfit for office as a result.

Budget numbers out on Wednesday- what to look for

Next week will tell a significant tale on the state of Wisconsin’s budget, as the Annual Financial Report is due out on Wednesday. Here’s a look at the FY2013 AFR, which lists pretty much all expenses and revenues for the state in the July 1-June 30 fiscal year. With a budget crisis looming and the second and final Walker vs Burke debate on Friday night, the numbers in this report will be sure to get a lot of attention, and I wanted to give you a quick review of what to look for when the numbers come out.

After the WisGOP-headed State Legislature passed tax cuts in early 2014 and Gov. Walker signed onto them, the projected year-end balance for FY 2014 was supposed to be $724 million, and $165 million for the year ending June 30, 2015. Since then, we know that revenues fell short by more than $281 million in the last fiscal year, which would reduce the year-end balance to $443 million, and throw year 2 of the budget into deficit.

So what this means is if everything stays at predicted revenue growth and budgeted expense levels, we’d have to make up just a bit less than $400 million by the end of June in some way, let alone the billions in other deficits that are looming for the 2015-17 budget. But that number doesn’t take into account expenses in FY 2014, or other revenues. If those numbers are also different than what was budgeted, then that obviously changes the calculation for how much might (or might not) be made up in year 2.

That being said, early indications are that the FY 2015 budget hole may be closing a bit. The best indicator we have so far is the state’s Monthly Statement of Receipts & Disbursements. It’s really nerdy stuff, but throughout the course of a year, the state will take in more money than it gets back in certain months, while paying out more than it gets in for others (it seems to be largely based on aids to and from other levels of government, as well as timing of tax payments). And the state’s Department of Administration’s tracks it in this monthly report that no one other than total geeks would pay attention to.

So what we can do is look at the month-end balance, compare it to the same months in 2013, and then do some projections based on that.

Change in cash balance in millions, July-Sept 2013 and 2014.

July- -$867.3 2013, -$879.4 2014 (DOWN $12.1)
Aug.- +$137.1 2013, +$135.1 2014 (DOWN $2.0)
Sept- +$879.9 2013, +$972.9 2013 (UP $93.0)
NET CHANGE 2014 VS. 2013 +$78.9 million

$78.9 million is pretty good, but it’s even better when you consider that about $165 million should be added to that total because it accounts for the lesser withholding amounts compared to 2013 (amounts that’ll be “paid back” through lower state tax refunds in early 2015- you’ve been warned). So add $165 million for an apples-to-apples comparison, and you’re looking at $243.9 million to the good.

Now, this is far from an exact number, as it doesn’t exactly match what ends up in the General Fund totals, but for example, if we ended up with adjusted revenues $243.9 million higher than the tax revenues for July-September 2013, that’s an increase of 8.74%. Obviously, a long way to go, but if that type of 8.74% increase held up for the next 9 months, that would be enough to close the $400 million budget hole that we’re facing between now and June 30, 2015.

But of course, we still don’t know exactly how big of a hole we have to dig out of. We’re only assuming the $400 million figure based on 2013-14’s General Fund tax revenues. If expenses rise (very possible given higher-than-expected Medicaid enrollments in early 2014) or other revenues fall short (remember how the Potawatomi got tired of Walker jerking them around and refused to pay $20+ million, and how the state said that endangered its finances?), the amount that has to be made up goes even higher.

Which is why the next week will feature big budget news, for both the current and future budgets. And you can bet there will be plenty of spin on the numbers when they come out. So be ready for it, and be ready to call “BULLSHIT!”

It's not a "work problem", Scotty. It's a pay problem

I was out with the wife and friends at an event last night, so I didn't see the guv's debate live. However, I did some Twitter-watching of it (which in many ways is better- less BS from commentators, less anger from watching Walker lies and deceptions on the TV). I noticed this one statement from Walker stood out. Even better to hear his buddy Dan Bice be the one to bring it up.

Here's the exact quote from @GovWalker: "We don’t have a jobs problem in this state. We have a work problem." You're gonna hear this again.

— Daniel Bice (@DanielBice) October 11, 2014

In addition to the offensiveness of Walker seeming to blame unemployment on "lazy Wisconsinites," this line is simply not true. As I've mentioned many times on this site over the last couple of years, when it comes to manufacturing and many other jobs in Wisconsin, we don't have a "skills gap" that keeps employers from filling jobs. WE HAVE A WAGE GAP.

Let's go to last month's release of the Quarterly Census on Employment and Wages, and you'll see we've made no progress in this state in closing the wage gap we have with other Midwestern states when it comes to paying people in manufacturing.

Average weekly manufacturing wage, Q1 2014
Ill. $1,366
Mich $1,301
Minn $1,213
Ind. $1,188
Ohio $1,137
Wis. $1,065
Iowa $1,032

The average wage in three of the state bordering ours are paying $4-$7 an hour more. Gee, you think THAT might be a problem in finding empoyees, because the ones with mobility and skills are attracted by getting paid what they're worth? And Wisconsin has been falling further behind in this wage gap over the last year.

12-month change in average weekly manu. wage, Q1 2014
Ill. +4.1%
Minn +2.9%
Iowa +2.4%
Ohio +2.4%
Mich +2.0%
Wis. +1.2%
Ind. +0.8%

You think if Wisconsin workers were getting 3-4% raises, like they are across the border in Minnesota and Illinois, they might be more likely to want to go into those professions? Of course they would! Scotty may have been kicked out of school before he got to this lesson, but supply and demand works for workers as well.

Then again, Scotty's advice on running a business comes from "Wisconsin Manufacturers" like this, who have never worked a day on the floor in their lives. Yes, it's an oldie, but it's still a goodie, and still very relevant.



Yes, private sector employees, you're being divided and conquered by Walker, too. And he'll only be worse if you give him a second term.

Let's see if Dems have the guts to make wages an issue in the last 3 1/2 weeks before Election Day, because Walker is wide open to get hit on it. And his gaffe during last night's debate brought it back into focus.

Friday clips- Daily Show alums killin' it

The first clip is quite timely, given that voter ID was shot down in Wisconsin for being put into effect too close to the November election. And it comes right after the ACLU released this awesome video that includes the always-great Lewis Black (who's playing in Milwaukee tonight, interestingly enough). And yes, it being Lewis Black means the language is a bit NSFW, but rightfully so, given how scummy voter ID and gerrymandering is.



This other clip is from earlier this week. Kristen Schaal came on the show to discuss with Jon the GOP's efforts to attract young female voters, including the ridiculous "Say yes to the dress" campaign that the College Republicans have played in several states, including Wisconsin. Plus, it gives me an excuse to watch Kristen Schaal in action (hey, I have a thing for zany, funny chicks- I also dig Dee from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia").

"Ms. Pac-Man was a feminist icon!"

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook

Have a good, sunny weekend.

Brad Schimel- not just a dimwit, a crooked dimwit

GOP Attorney General candidate Brad Schimel already illustrated this week that he was unfit for office by claiming that he would have enforced interracial marriage bans if they were still legal (showing he has no core decency and principles regarding equality under the law). But that wasn’t the most damning thing that came out about Schimel’s ability to serve in the job over the last few days. Being a dummy who would condone racism is one thing, but being a crook while serving in elected office is entirely another.

Check out this file involving the reprimand by the state’s Office of Lawyer Regulation against former Milwaukee County GOP Treasurer Christopher Wiesmueller. Wiesmueller got slapped down due to the “assistance” he gave former Scott Walker staffer Darlene Wink after Wink got caught politicking on the taxpayer’s dime in Walker’s office. In the wake of Wink's exposure, Walker memorably emailed "We cannot afford another story like this one. No one can give them any reason to do another story." Well, Wiesmueller tried to do his part.

Wiesmueller arranged a meeting with his client (Wink) soon after his initial contact with her. He instructed his client to bring her personal laptop computer to the meeting. At that meeting Wiesmueller advised his client to remove all evidence related to her political activity from her computer, including computer files and emails. Wiesmueller offered to assist his client with the removal of the evidence from her computer and she therefore left the laptop at his office. Wiesmueller then deleted the files from the computer and downloaded software to “wipe” the information from the computer. He saved copies of the documents on his office computer and on a USB flash drive that he gave to the client when he returned the laptop to her approximately one week later. Wiesmueller admitted to OLR that he was aware at the time of the deletion that the files and emails “likely had potential evidentiary value” and that a prosecutor would be interested in the information….

Based upon Wiesmueller’s statements, the prosecutor obtained a search warrant for Wiesmueller’s law office. At the investigator’s request, Wiesmueller came to the office and was present during the execution of the search warrant. Wiesmueller provided the investigator with copies of the material that Wiesmueller had copied from his client’s computer. In the course of providing this information, Wiesmueller revealed the content of his discussions with his client during their initial conference and offered his impression to the investigator that the computer files and emails were “the most damning things.” Wiesmueller reiterated that he told his client “to get rid of” the evidence. He did not admit that he deleted the information from the client’s computer.

Following the execution of the search warrant at his law office, Wiesmueller terminated his representation of the client. The client and her successor counsel met with the prosecutor and his investigator. In exchange for providing information about Wiesmueller’s role in the destruction of evidence from the client’s computer, the client was offered immunity from prosecution as a result of any information she provided in that regard. The client stated that she left her computer with Wiesmueller and that it was Wiesmueller who had deleted her emails and removed the evidence from her computer.

And now here’s the good stuff involving the Waukesha County District Attorney - AG candidate Brad Schimel.

The prosecutor referred the matter of Wiesmueller’s destruction of evidence to the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office as the alleged crime had been committed at Wiesmueller’s law office located in Waukesha County. The Waukesha County District Attorney agreed to forego filing criminal charges against Wiesmueller provided he made a thorough and complete report of his conduct to the Office of Lawyer Regulation. Wiesmueller reported his conduct to OLR in July of 2012. He did not incur any criminal sanctions as a result of his conduct in destroying the digital evidence of his client’s crimes.

In other words, Schimel had Wiesmueller say he was sorry and face whatever slap on the wrist the OLR would give, and Schimel made sure the incident went away without court documents coming out describing what was in the files he destroyed. It’s an obvious cover-up.

But wait, there’s more! Capper at Cognitive Dissidence gives excellent added details to this story, noting that Schimel claimed at the time Wiesmuller and/or Wink weren’t aware that what they were doing was against the law, and therefore it wasn’t something he was going to prosecute. The OLR complaint shows that what Schimel told the public at the time about this case was a FLAT-OUT LIE, as Capper sums up:

Schimel knew exactly what had happened and that they were felonies but still chose not to charge his fellow Republican. Then he lied to the public about it to help cover up the involvement of Scott Walker and his campaign.

Not only is Schimel unfit for Attorney General, he is unfit for his current position as Waukesha County District Attorney.

All true on Schimel's unfitness for office, and it sure goes a long way toward explaining why this doofus had the field cleared for him for the nomination when J.B. Van Hollen stepped aside. Can you say “Payback for past favors?”

You’d think this revelation would be all over the state’s largest newspaper, as it not only involves a cover-up by the GOP’s candidate for Attorney General, with the deed being done in that newspaper’s readership area, but it also was done to cover for the current Governor who is up for re-election (and still under investigation). You’d think so, but when I went to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s website yesterday, the story was buried down the page, and today, any mention of it is gone entirely.

No, the J-S thinks it’s more important to reserve the large type and column-space inches to Dan Bice amplifying the latest rumor-mongering by GOP operatives about Mary Burke (and finding very little of substance), as opposed to investigating a cover-up that was allegedly done by the guy who’s running to be the state’s top cop. Sure makes you wonder why they choose those priorities, and why they don’t want to find out more about what was in the files that Wiesmuller and Wink destroyed.