K-12 Tax& Spending Climate: Government spending is increasing at a far greater pace than household income

MacIver:

Questions That Need To Discussed And Answered:

  • Are local governments truly destitute and in desperate need of a massive increase of taxpayer funding? See charts above.   
  • Why should state taxpayers bail out the lavish and reckless pension plans of the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County?
  • How much has the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County paid towards their pension plans for the last twenty years? Is this a case where the irresponsible local politicians, rather than fully paying for the pension they promised their government employees, just kicked the can down the road to create this bailout crisis?
  • Since all the locals that testified said it wasn’t enough, how long before the state is back at the table with another influx? 
  • During negotiations, how much did the locals say it would take to actually solve the problems?
  • Was there any consideration of placing limits on local governments preventing them from allowing outside funding and administration of elections?
  • Some of these communities have gone to referendum to ask for more money and been denied.  Towns under 3,000 population, and there are more than a thousand of them, can raise taxes by a vote at an annual meeting.  Does the state want to be in the business of second-guessing the residents, and simply taking tax dollars out of a different pocket?