OWN Launches WisTax Watchdog Site

Modeled after its WMCWatch effort, One Wisconsin Now has put up a new site devoted to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.

Details from Scot Ross, OWN's Executive Director [disclosure - - I sit on the board of OWN's policy Institute]:

One Wisconsin Now's WISTAX Watch Site Tracks Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance Conservative Bias

Comprehensive Online Warehouse Connects Board Members, Contributions, Research and the Conservative Agenda

Madison -- One Wisconsin Now has launched WISTAXWatch. org,
a comprehensive website providing historical information, board
donations, affiliations and extensive analysis of the conservative
agenda of the allegedly non-ideological Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.

Modeled after One Wisconsin Now's successful WMCWatch.org site, the goal of WISTAXWatch. org
is to provide the media and public with information about the
conservative, pro-corporate agenda of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance,
as well as debunk its alleged independence and lastly, expand the
debate on budgeting and taxation issues in Wisconsin.

"For too long, the tax debate in this state has been driven by
research from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance under the guise of its
'independence, '" said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now.

"WISTAX Watch shows
the organizations' invaluable contribution and interconnectivity to the
conservative message machine in Wisconsin that seeks tax loopholes and
breaks for corporations and the wealthy and less public investment."

Located at www.WISTAXWatch. org, the new site includes comprehensive analysis and research about WISTAX, including:

Historical information about the organization' s anti-tax roots and its influence over the years.
Biographical information about the present and past board of
directors, their conservative and corporate affiliations and their near
$1.4 million in political giving -- over 92 percent to Republicans and
conservatives.

Detailed analysis and annotations showing the conservative bias in
WISTAX research in the areas of public education, corporate taxes and
individual taxes and fees.

Comprehensive reports detailing WISTAX individuals' connections
with the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and the Republican Party,
among others.

Interactive quiz readers can take, called "WISTAX or GOP?"

Primer for analyzing WISTAX reports for conservative bias.

Comprehensive reader tool kit that includes an interactive blog, news feed, twitter and social networking.

"When it comes to taxation and budgeting, you are almost exclusively
going to get the conservative argument from the Wisconsin Taxpayers
Alliance," said Ross. "Seeing just how intertwined the board members of
the WISTAX have been over the last two decades with the WMC, the GOP
and other conservative enterprises should erase the notion once and for
all that WISTAX is ideologically independent. "