One Wisconsin Now

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) is opposing the Senate Democrats’ economic development plan, Wisconsin Invests Now. The plan seeks to invest in Wisconsin’s infrastructure for future growth and quickly provide more well paying jobs. The good news is that the plan would be paid for by closing the corporate tax loophole known as the “Las Vegas Loophole.”

What WMC calls “combined reporting,” this shady loophole allows multi-state corporations to escape their fair share of Wisconsin taxes by diverting profits to paper subsidies in states like Nevada, where corporate income taxes aren’t collected. Essentially, all a corporation needs is a shiny mail box in Vegas, and it’s goodbye Wisconsin, hello jackpot.  The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates the cost to Wisconsin taxpayers due to this loophole to be $81,000,000 annualy.

James A. Buchen, WMC vice president, today asserted, “We need to be looking for ways to spread growth, hope and opportunity for our families instead of passing proposals that will lead to increased unemployment and despair.” Unfortunately, the real despair lies in WMC’s continued success in shifting the tax burden onto Wisconsin families, while corporations sing “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

This Wednesday morning, February 27th, The Assembly Committee on Jobs & the Economy will hold a hearing on Wisconsin’s minimum wage. The Committee’s hearing starts at 10:00am in room 400NE, and it will consider Assembly Bill 274, which would raise the minimum wage and index it for inflation.

Although federal increases in the minimum wage passed the U.S. Congress last summer, bringing the federal minimum wage up to $7.25 by July 2009, AB274 is important because of its long term implications. Without indexing for inflation, some obvious problems remain constant even after a boost to the minimum wage is given. As explained by Goldman Sachs Vice President Andrew Tilton in a 2006 issue of US Economics Analyst,

“the periodic debates about raising the wage consume politicians’ (and economists’) time and energy, and the unpredictability of the law – irregular large hikes followed by gradual erosion through inflation – makes business planning more difficult. If a minimum wage is desired, indexing it to inflation would avoid these problems.” (WCCF)

After threatening to delay his trip to Africa over a new FISA bill, Bush eventually gave up his fear mongering and decided to pack his bags after all. And if you're like me, you look forward to the barrage of hypocritical language that inevitably follows a George Bush international tour of political hackery. 

In his first full interview in seven years with the BBC, Bush delivers some telling lines about his inability to grasp the impact of his failed policies across the globe, not to mention his less than stellar grasp of the English language. In response to whether America is slipping back into Cold War thinking, Bush states, "I happen to believe we're in an ideological struggle. And, those who murder the innocent to achieve political objectives are evil people."  Although the discussion turns to the genocide in Darfur, one is reminded of the thousands of innocent Iraqis who have lost their lives since the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in 2003.