Monday, December 11, 2017

Dark Store Day reminds us that WisGOP leaders don't mind if we're ripped off

As property tax bills go out in the mail, it seems like a good time to revisit the ripoff known as the “dark store” loophole. This is where big-box retailers like Wal-Mart have lobbied and lawyered up to get their property assessments reduced by millions of dollars, which then raises the property tax rates of everyone else in the community because the tax base is lowered.

With that in mind, the League of Wisconsin Municipalities declared today “Dark Store Day”, and said Wisconsin legislators need to step up to outlaw this loophole, and restore tax fairness in the state’s communities.
Leaders of the Wisconsin legislature will determine whether Christmas 2018 will be merry or just more expensive for property owners in Wisconsin. City and village leaders around Wisconsin are making one wish: that the Legislature takes a vote on the Dark Store and Walgreens loophole repair bills. The bills have plenty of bipartisan support and will pass both houses with overwhelming margins, provided they are scheduled for a vote. If the Legislature doesn’t act, look for residential taxpayers to pay more, an average of 8% more in the future, to cover the tax break for these national retailers. Ho, ho, ho.

Tax attorneys representing national chain stores have come up with a novel reading of property tax law that has resulted in $10 million retail properties paying property taxes on half or less of that value. It’s called the “dark store theory,” because it holds that large retail buildings are only worth what they could be sold for as vacant, “dark” buildings. Wisconsin law needs to be clarified so that common sense and fairness once again prevail.

Reversing the 2008 Walgreens v. Madison Supreme Court decision is equally important. That decision requires an assessment using the income approach of retail property leased at “above market” rents to be based on theoretical “market rents” rather than the actual rents being paid under terms of Walgreen’s leases. As a result, numerous newer buildings housing Walgreens stores have sold for millions of dollars more than the value at which they can be assessed for tax purposes.

Over time, these loopholes will slash the commercial property tax base in Wisconsin, and more of the property tax burden will be shifted to small businesses, homeowners and other taxpayers whose properties are assessed at fair market value. Homeowners already pay more than two-thirds of the property tax bill. They should not bear more.


That's not abandoned. So why price it like it is?

If LWM and other communities have the support of so many legislators, why would they need to do this public push to get the “dark store” bills passed? This weekend article from the Kenosha News gave a good explanation.
In November, despite support for the bills, which were introduced by Republicans in both houses, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, opted not to schedule a vote, something that has raised eyebrows, if not ire, among some local elected officials.

Fitzgerald could not be reached for comment — something that didn’t surprise Somers Village Board President George Stoner.

“He’s not going to get back to you,” said Stoner, who has been waging an email and phone campaign to bring the bills to the floor. Stoner said he, too, has yet to hear from Fitzgerald…

“Every taxing body — Unified, Gateway, all of them — will be affected,” said Stoner, who has been asking legislators for the last two years to close the loophole.

“Somebody is not calling the vote. I know they could do it overnight if they wanted to,” said [Pleasant Prairie Village President John] Steinbrink, who served as a state legislator. “If they could do that for lobbyists and special interests, they could do it for the taxpayers.”
The reason why the dark store ripoff isn’t being outlawed seems obvious- Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robbin’ Vos are doing the bidding of their donors at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, who oppose the bill, and actually had the nerve to claim that the lobbying effort to get rid of the dark store loophole should be called “raise your taxes day”.

Since the only taxes that would NOT be raised by keeping the dark store loophole would be the ones not paid by megastores like Wal-Mart and Menard's, it proves yet again that WMC doesn’t give a fuck about everyday Wisconsinites, just corporate greedheads. It lays bare what the “dark store” debate boils down to - organizations and local governments that value constituents over large corporate retailers vs politicians that are in the pocket of corporate slime (COUGH- Vos and Fitzgerald) and only care about reducing costs for their donors so some of those savings can be kicked back to them. So they want to bury the dark store bills, and don’t care about the great majority of Wisconsinites that would pay the price of their inaction.

Call me crazy, but I still think that government should work for everyday people instead of their big-money, multi-national corporate contributors. I know that’s a quaint philosophy in 2017 Fitzwalkerstan, but Wisconsin sure was a lot better place to live in when we used to have elected officials that valued people over profit.

7 comments:

  1. This really says what they are up to:
    “Local governments and overly aggressive assessors are simply looking for ways to raise taxes on employers because they cannot be fiscally responsible,” said WMC Senior Vice President of Government Relations Scott Manley.

    The GOP wants voters to blame local governments for the bad roads and cuts to government services rather than the cuts the Gov made to shared revenue. Walker claimed that Act 10 would provide the tools local government needed to make up the difference. Obviously that didn't work. Walker and his GOP pals in the legislature are being blamed for the bad schools and roads and it isn't helping his campaign.

    Enter WMC who can provide the perfect scapegoat to get their loyal servants in the legislature off the hook: local elected officials. More divide and conquer.

    Also, the dark store law is damn good for lawyers...

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    1. Well observed. And I love how WMC tries to portray these multi-billion dollar corporations as some kind of put-upon victim because they actually have to pay the full value on their properties.

      Dirty secret- removing the dark store loophole does next to nothing in terms of how much revenue local governments can raise from property taxes. It just changes WHO PAYS THE TAXES.

      And yes, there's a lot of business to be made by challenging assessments, and it's yet another way that the rich and corporate have an advantage, because the average person doesn't have the time and money to hire lawyers to bully local governments into settling and lowering their assessments.

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    2. I'll be. The WI League of Municipalities just tweeted that only a hand full of lawyers work for the big box stores and each one is a separate lawsuit. https://twitter.com/LeagueWIMunis/status/941519831676973056

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  2. If cutting costs and slashing budgets fixed all issue and energized the economy, shouldn't Wisconsin have won this award instead of a neighboring state? http://www.twincities.com/2017/12/11/study-names-mn-best-run-state-due-to-low-unemployment-low-poverty-other-factors/

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  3. Also, when Scott promised 300,000 new jobs, do you suppose he meant in Wisconsin or to help create them in a surrounding state by having state residents work across the border? It's interesting that the goal seems to have been accomplished, just in the wrong state and took 6 years instead of 4.

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    1. Yep, but Scotty will gladly take credit for the lower unemployment rate resulting from other states offering more and better jobs to Wisconsin residents.

      The problem is that there isn't much of a quality of life to keep people in Wisconsin. And higher property taxes from dark stores will not help.

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    2. I found out I could watch wdio newscasts on Roku and they showed a clip of evening rush hour in the snowfall and the traffic heading back over to superior was terrible and nothing going the other way...it's common to see it happen in the twin cities but I don't remember massive jams of people piling over for work in Duluth and back at rush hour, but I also noticed the issue over the summer when one of the main bridges would close! I'm guessing Rochester vs la Crosse is similar also.

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