'Walker taxes,' big biz taxation bias trigger Tuesday referenda

Shining some light on those Tuesday ballots which are also about tax fairness.

Look through this list of referendum issues on SE Wisconsin suburban ballots.

Note the large number of communities asking local taxpayers to pay more for schools and cops.

These are local needs being met by 'Walker taxes,'

wherein Walker-led state government - - posing as the friend-of-the-taxpayer - - has cut shared revenue and imposed local fiscal limitations - - all of which forces grassroots officials to take the heat and local residents to come up with  cash through referenda and higher local taxes.

Also note the number of advisory referenda that register opposition to so-called dark-store assessment and taxation, a public policy which has needed more publicity (I have barely blogged about it, so shame on me, too) and which legislators failed to outlaw.

Dark-store policies let retailers and manufacturers apply for property tax reductions using computations that reflect dark-store failures, even if the businesses seeking assessment reductions are solid, even flush, not dark.

Dark-store advisory votes are on ballots statewide, because...

Menards, Walgreen's, Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers have used these laws to sue municipalities across the state for lower assessments, reducing their taxes as a result. Critics say this has shifted the tax burden onto homeowners and small businesses. 

Imagine asking your local officials to cut your property tax assessment because someday you might take a salary reduction or lose your job.

And when dark-store reductions are awarded, guess who picks up that slack, and whose community will have less money for schools and cops, etc.?