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.