WISTAX on Taxes and Fees: Serving the Conservative Agenda
Emphasize the costs and downplay the benefits of public investment
The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance wants the media, the public and elected officials to think Wisconsin taxpayers are unfairly burdened in comparison to the rest of the nation. It does this by creating its own standards for how to determine tax burden. During debate on the potential disaster of TABOR, WISTAX material was regularly cited.
WISTAX has a number of time-tested conservative techniques when it comes to advancing its anti-tax argument. For instance, using a relationship between whatever tax is being discussed and income levels, which raises Wisconsin’s ranking because average income is under the national average. WISTAX will isolate a tax without talking about what it is used to finance. WISTAX will ignore fees paid by other states, not paid in Wisconsin, such as toll roads. Lastly, WISTAX will omit important context for a tax and the relationship between taxes paid by businesses or not paid by businesses.
WISTAX Tactics: Reinforce the Conservative Agenda
Manipulate data, release studies using cherry-picked statistics
Click the thumbnail to see the original WISTAX report with a fact-check by WISTAX Watch
WISTAX SAYS: "Excise taxes are often forgotten because they are frequently built into the final purchase price of items."
A common conservative tactic is to “separate and kill” – separate a tax from the item being taxed and the services it pays for, and try to kill it. WISTAX here provides fodder to make that argument. Failing to provide context for what a tax pays for makes it seem less necessary. The analysis emphasizes all burden, no explained benefit. (Forgotten Taxes, Feb. 07, Vol. 75, No. 2, Pg. 4)
WISTAX SAYS: "Increasing the cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack would give Wisconsin the fourth-highest rate in the U.S….Wisconsin’s gas tax is the highest in the United States…"
WISTAX goes out of its way to highlight Wisconsin’s taxes in headlines when WISTAX thinks it fits its arguments. However, WISTAX doesn’t bother to mention taxes and fees where Wisconsin ranks low, such as vehicle registration fees and tipping fees. (Forgotten Taxes, Feb. 07, Vol. 75, No. 2, Pg. 5)
WISTAX SAYS: "[Wisconsin’s tax ranking drops to] 24th when all federal, state, and local dollars are counted. However, the typical taxpayer likely views Wisconsin as a high tax state because the state ranks third on the "big-three" (individual income, property, and sales) taxes combined."
Buried at the end of this report on taxes on low income families, WISTAX admits a more comprehensive measure puts Wisconsin squarely in the middle of the pack when comparing the state’s tax burden to other states. However, because the average taxpayer “likely” views Wisconsin as a high tax state, WISTAX always presents it as such. Furthermore, WISTAX constantly notes the 'big three,' so isn't WISTAX responsible for the distortion being referenced? (Taxes on Low Income Families May 2007, Vol. 75, No. 5, back cover)
WISTAX SAYS: “At the state level … revenues were 153% of expenditures … The opposite happens locally.”
In Wisconsin, the state collects taxes, much of which his sent down to the local governments. This is reflected in the WISTAX figures. However, WISTAX does not discuss the context of shared revenue here – the state plays a role in ensuring communities with less ability to pay still are able to provide basic municipal services. This is a common conservative theme and taken to its end would lead to richer communities providing much more services and poorer communities much less. (Wisconsin’s Finances in National Context, July 2001, Vol. 69, No. 7, Pg. 11)
WISTAX SAYS: “If spending were to be frozen for two years, WISTAX finds the deficit could be solved with $1.25 billion in new revenues, spending reductions, or some combination of the two in each of the next two years.”
WISTAX intentionally fails to take into account cost increases that are out of our control – asphalt for highway, health care for state workers, rising energy costs and inflation, among others. Freezing spending would result in much greater program cuts than WISTAX infers. (The 2009 Wisconsin Legislature, Nov. 2008, Vol. 76, No. 11, back cover)
Other Tactics: Reflecting the Conservative Political Winds
In 1999, WISTAX spent about three column inches addressing automobile taxes, but in October 2005, it doubled the column space on automobile and gas taxes and added graphics to highlight the automobile section even further. During 2005 and 2006, gas tax indexing was a major piece of the Republican party platform in Wisconsin. "This is another thing that keeps driving (gas prices) up and up and up," said Scott Walker, Republican candidate for governor in 2006. "So I'd like to see (gax tax indexing) stopped." (Oct. 2005, Vol. 73, No. 10, Pg. 8)
Other Tactics: Big Fonts, Big Graphics, Big-time Misinformation
WISTAX likes to use a special, larger headline for cigarette tax increase, but it doesn't give the same headline treatment to any of the tax decreases that are mentioned in the middle of a different paragraph. (Nov. 2001, Vol. 69, No. 11, Pg. 9)
The front page features a political cartoon with a man pulling his pockets out saying “what’s left.” However, the headline for the report actually indicates that Wisconsin taxes went down in 2001. (Nov. 2001, Vol. 69, No. 11, Pg. 1)
Other examples can be seen here, with a cartoon depicting the "burden" of paying taxes, an anti-tax message pushed by conservatives, and another example here, featuring a scene of the Boston Tea Paty.
Check out WISTAX Watch's 'Critical Reader's Checklist' for tips and methods for examining WISTAX reports for conservative bias.
WISTAX Misleads on Taxes and Fees in the Media
Create anti-tax environment, provide cover for conservative politicians
'No room for anything extra'
Associated Press, January 29, 2009
Despite having about $1.9 billion to work with for the next budget, state legislators will have little - if any - money to set aside for new programs, political observers and legislators say… "It's not a disaster situation, but there's no room for error, and there's no room for anything extra," said Todd Berry, president of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.
"A fair number of policy-makers and local officials are scratching their heads wondering where the organization found its numbers."
- J.R.S Owcazrski
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Spending comparison released by Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 08, 1996
Municipal spending surveys can make officials mad, mightily pleased or a mixture of both. In the case of a study just released by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, though, a fair number of policy-makers and local officials are scratching their heads wondering where the organization found its numbers.
Taxes set record in 2005
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 21, 2005
The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance study already is adding fuel to the movement in the state Legislature for what proponents call a taxpayer bill of rights, a constitutional amendment that would require state and local taxing bodies to seek voter approval to exceed spending limits, raise taxes or approve long-term debt.
"Well, [the WISTAX study] gives a general lop-sided indication," Miller said. "Unless they analyze budgets, it's something that's misleading to the public."
- Kenneth Miller
Former Washington County board chair
Study misleading, board chairman says
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 4, 1997
The latest analysis by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance compares per capita spending over the last five years, noting that spending in many cases outpaced the inflation rate. Washington County ranged from the middle to low ends in most spending categories. In an interview Wednesday, Miller said he complained about the alliance's report last year, only to hear that it was a "general indication" of county spending. "Well, it gives a general lop-sided indication," Miller said. "Unless they analyze budgets, it's something that's misleading to the public."
WTA can't get the numbers right on costs for Fox Valley Metro police
Appleton Post-Crescent, December 11, 2002
It seems like annually, since the creation of the Fox Valley Metro Police Department, journalists have to correct a release by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance on the cost per capita for police protection for Little Chute and Kimberly. Little Chute Village Administrator Thomas Lebak, anticipating the WTA story, phoned about a week prior to the release of that data to alert me to the impending story and to give me the correct numbers.
WISTAX Role in Right Wing Wisconsin
Provide research to fuel conservative messages about taxation
When conservative leaders in Wisconsin need ideological ammunition to help propel their agenda of less taxes on the wealthy and corporations, they often cite misleading studies from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance to support the never-ending conservative assault against public investment. And of course, WISTAX is nearly always referred to as “non-partisan,” “highly respected” or “independent” in an attempt to make it appear a non-ideological source.
Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), one of the legislature’s most conservative members, references WISTAX often in press release, columns and on her blog, “Conservatively Speaking.” Lazich jumped at the chance to repeat WISTAX president Todd Berry’s incredibly low estimate of 2008 budget deficit, saying that Governor Doyle was inflating the deficit number to push for tax increases. “I trust Todd Berry and the outstanding work done by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. Undoubtedly, the state’s fiscal matters are in need of repair, but it seems not to the extent the governor, who has drawn up a script that crowns him the hero who saves the day, would have us believe.” Berry’s prediction for the budget deficit amidst the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression? One billion. The actual budget deficit? Six point six billion. Lazich and other conservatives pointed to Berry’s numbers time and again in an attempt to convince the public that closing corporate tax loopholes or raising taxes on the top one percent of wage earners simply wasn’t necessary.
A 2006 Lazich column supporting the TABOR amendment states “A study by the non-profit, non-partisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance reveals Wisconsin’s 230 largest cities and villages’ property tax levies increased by an average 4.1 percent in 2005-06.” Other Lazich columns referencing WISTAX studies read like an index of conservative talking points: “Wisconsin taxes remain some of the highest,” “Taking a chunk of your income,” “Do not be mistaken: Wisconsin is still a tax hell,” all of which are based on WISTAX studies and statistics.
Senator Lazich certainly isn’t alone among legislative Republicans in leaning on WISTAX for statistics to support the conservative agenda. Former Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) based an entire 2008 column on the bogus tax-rankings published each year by WISTAX. Senator Neil Kedzie (R-Elkhorn) used WISTAX numbers in a 2009 press release criticizing Governor Doyle for lifting the arbitrary cap on teacher salaries—a cap long supported by legislative Republicans and conservative groups like WISTAX, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and WPRI.
Todd Berry’s poor track record on predicting the state budget deficit in 2008 didn’t stop Senate Republican leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) from citing another dubious WISTAX prediction. “According to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, Wisconsin is currently the 11th highest taxed state in the nation, but Doyle and the legislative Democrats are sliding Wisconsin firmly into the top six. ‘[We] might move up three to five places, so something in the six-seven-eight range...’ said Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance President, Todd Berry, in the July 14th edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,” wrote Fitzgerald in a column attacking Democrats for closing corporate tax loopholes and raising taxes on the top one percent of wage earners for the first time in forty years.
The examples are far too numerous to continue to list, but the pattern is clear: WISTAX releases studies aimed at inflating the perceived cost of public services and programs, emphasizing the so-called “tax burden” and highlighting at every opportunity any tax increases without giving hardly a passing mention to Wisconsin’s excellent services, low fees, tax cuts or falling tax collections. Then, conservative lawmakers pounce on the WISTAX studies, making sure to describe WISTAX as “independent,” “non-partisan” or “highly respected,” and use the phony statistics to push for more tax breaks for the rich and corporations at the expense of the working families of Wisconsin.
