BROWN: TAXPAYER PROTECTION ACT DEAD IN LEGISLATURE
Thursday, April 20th, 2006 -- 11:07 AM
Audio - 2:10A western Wisconsin state senator says it's now obvious there's not enough legislative support to amend the State Constitution to limit state and local spending.
Saying they didn't think "legislating" through the Constitution was the correct approach to solving the state's tax problems, Republican senators Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls and Ron Brown of Eau Claire offered their own "statutory" solution Wednesday.
Their "Tax Relief Today" proposal would:[list][*]Cap local levies at a percentage tied to new construction and inflation[*]Limit overall state spending to growth in personal income statewide[*]And give local government new flexibility to deal with soaring health-care bills[/list]"I am principally opposed to putting such broad and comprehensive fiscal policy in our Constitution when we don't know what the long term results will be," Brown said Thursday.
Brown acknowledges TABOR first, and now the Taxpayer Protection Act, has "strained" the relationship between state and local governments. He says it's not fair to blame only counties and municipalities for high property taxes.
"I think the bulk of the problem rests with the state," Brown says. "The support from the state has been stagnant or declining for the past fifteen to twenty years."
Assembly Republicans were reportedly meeting in caucus yesterday considering changes to the TPA proposal. They're scheduled to debate the measure on April 27, but Brown says it's "clear" it won't pass both houses of the legislature this year.
"I will give credit where credit is due to Sen. (Glen) Grothman and Rep. (Jeff) Wood: They've created a real interest and a lot of debate and if you can do something statutorily now, it will stick like glue."
Brown and Harsdorf plan to "market" their proposal to their Republican and Democrat colleagues and hope to have a bill ready before the next budget cycle.
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