Geoffrey Datz

So, I went and read this bill Juliana keeps talking about. It’s AB 1209. It’s authored by gubernatorial candidate @FrancescaHongWI and it’s absolutely bonkers. Please get comfortable and stick around because there is a whole lot of craziness to unpack. First, the bill raises taxes on filers in Wisconsin’s top income tax bracket by 15.69% these are people making over $323K. So now we know how they’re defining “super rich” and “billionaire.” It’s people making $323K. This alone would make WI the 9th highest income tax state but the bill doesn’t stop there. AB 1209 creates a new bracket starting at $750K and sets the tax rate at 17.70%. 17.70! Under Hong’s plan, WI will be #1 in America for income taxes. So who will be paying this tax? Billionaires? Not really. Wisconsin hardly has any. The majority of payers will be mom and pop small businesses. This is because the overwhelming majority of small businesses file not as corporations but as individuals, pass-throughs, S-corps, etc… and pay the individual tax rate. Close to 80% of small businesses file this way and a substantial majority of people who will be hit by this 17.7% tax will be small businesses. So this isn’t a “billionaires” tax at all. This is a successful small business tax. And this is all before we get into the strange way the bill plans to increase state school aids. Under the bill, for purposes of calculating equalization aids and revenue limits, a middle class English speaking child will only count as 71% of a child as compared to a limited-English, low income pupil. I thought all children were equal but I guess under Hong’s bill some are more equal than others. I’d love to see the Legislative Fiscal Bureau run this district by district so we can see who wins and who loses under Hong’s weird plan of counting some children as lesser than other children. Finally, I don’t see anything in the bill limiting property taxes. Presumably they would just keep going up despite increased state aids. So, how would this net out? If this bill passed, we could immediately expect: - Most of WI’s wealthiest would leave. - Thousands of small businesses would close their doors. - Large corporations will transfer their executives elsewhere and some will abandon Wi. It will no longer be possible to recruit talent to WI. (This is happening with Starbucks and Amazon right now in Washington over a 9.9% tax. Guess what a 17.7% tax will do.) - The Packers and Brewers will not be able to recruit talent. (I spent last week with some NFL players and they assured me that this is a big deal). - Tax revenues will plummet. WI will face a budget deficit and effectively go into recession. - Despite the new state aid increases, local governments appear to be able to raise property taxes more (and they’ll need to after commercial values plummet due to all the office buildings being abandoned). If this isn’t bad enough, the Hongs and Julianas of Wisconsin have other bills including a local option super tax, which is a great way to chase entrepreneurs out of your city. But the point is that this is unserious policy. To call it sophomoric is an insult to sophomores. This is economic suicide that can only come from the fever dreams of fervent communists. After reading it, I’m more motivated than ever to elect @TomTiffanyWI. @HeartlandPostWI @DanLennington @DanODonnellShow @VickiMcKenna @maciverwisc @AFPWI @WILawLiberty @meganjnovak @yount1130 @WisGOP @alexbruesewitz