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Under Walker, Wisconsin is 53,700 jobs short of matching the national pace of job creation
As IWF noted in The Price of Extremism: Wisconsin’s economy under the Walker administration, Gov. Walker’s policies are directly responsible for Wisconsin’s pathetic jobs performance during his budget.
The chart shows the percent change in the number of jobs in Wisconsin and the U.S. since June 2011, the time period when Gov. Scott Walker’s budget has been in effect. If only we’d matched the U.S. trend, we’d have 53,700 more jobs.
New IWF tax expose: GE pays $0 state tax
General Electric has brought many good things to Wisconsin, especially good jobs. We just wish they’d pay income tax, as well.
Our latest tax newsletter provides the first national documentation of GE not paying income tax at the state level. GE has been become the national poster-child for corporate tax avoidance.
See all issues of WhoDoesNotPayTaxes?
Walker policies costing Wisconsin jobs
Gov. Scott Walker’s economic policies have caused so much job loss that Wisconsin is trailing the national pace of job creation.
That’s brought home by a new report from IWF, The Price of Extremism: Wisconsin’s economy under the Walker administration.
If only Wisconsin had matched the national pace of job creation since April, about 34,000 more families would have a breadwinner with a full-time job, the report says.
Wisconsin lags the national economy because of Walker’s “cuts only” approach to budgeting. His policies have pulled billions of dollars out of the state economy, the worst possible action he could have taken during a difficult economic period.
Walker’s cuts include:
- Cuts in state aid for important programs at the state and local level
- Cuts in aid to low-income families
- Cuts in take-home pay for hundreds of thousands of public employees
- Rejections of federal dollars.
The indirect ripple effects of these policies will alone cause the destruction of about 18,000 full-time jobs, according to IWF’s economic simulations.
The report also includes estimates of the impact on a number of individual counties.
Read The Price of Extremism: Wisconsin’s economy under the Walker administration
See the press release
How Gov. Walker’s policies impact your community — County-by-county breakdowns
The slash and burn economic policy is not working for Wisconsin
IWF wants to share with you a new document from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia showing economic growth across the United States from July 1 to October 1, 2011. The color code goes from dark green (high growth) to red (lowest growth.) The map summarizes current economic conditions in each state using nonfarm employment, average hours worked in manufacturing, the unemployment rate, and wage and salaries. Guess which state has dropped to the bottom since the budget went into effect on July 1, 2011?
This mapping reinforces the conclusion of IWF's recent report(see story above)on the impact of Governor Walker's economic policies. The IWF report, The Price of Extremism, shows why Wisconsin has lost more jobs than any other state in the country.
See the press release from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Same old story:
Exec pay, profits soar; tax payments, employment lag
The new issue of IWF’s WhoDoesNotPayTaxes? newsletter features four large 
manufacturing firms that pay zero—or almost zero—in state income taxes despite high profits and soaring pay for CEOs.
Each of the four firms has thousands of Wisconsin employees: Kimberly-Clark, the paper-products giant; Brunswick, owner of Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac; Snap-on, the Kenosha auto-tool firm; and Rockwell Automation, descendant of Allen-Bradley, a Milwaukee industrial icon.
In the last decade, these four companies have made nearly $29 billion in pretax profits, and paid a total of only 0.01% of that in Wisconsin income tax. And while CEO compensation tripled, the average working wage remained flat.
For a national perspective on corporate tax avoidance, see the comprehensive new report from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The report—Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers 2008-10—shows that at least 78 of the nation’s biggest and most profitable companies paid no federal income tax in at least one of the last three years.
The 280 companies studied took $223 billion in tax subsidies. “This is wasted money that could have gone to protect Medicare, create jobs and cut the deficit,” said lead author Robert McIntyre.
Economic stimulus top priority over deficit reduction
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The Concord Coalition brought its road show to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), and IWF's Jack Norman—a last-minute addition to the panel—stressed that increased federal revenue for immediate job creation, rather than large cuts, is the key to long-term debt reduction.
The Concord Coalition has been touring the nation for several years, preaching the importance of long-term solutions to America's high deficits and debt. At UWM, when several student organizations, led by the Milwaukee Graduate Assistants Association, found the program lacked a progressive voice, they pressed for IWF's inclusion.
Diane Lim Rogers, the Concord Coalition's chief economist, stressed that her organization agrees with the importance of additional revenue, so long as it's accompanied by long-term cuts in programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
Norman applauded the recognition of revenue's role, but said that the Concord Coalition is among the many centrist organizations which speak so quietly about the role for additional federal revenue that they have let their anti-deficit message be hijacked by rightist ideologues whose only interest is slashing federal, state and local governments.
An audio of the hour-long discussion is available from WUWM-FM
Read a related article on wisbusiness.com
Walker’s budget a job-killer
Gov. Scott Walker keeps talking about creating jobs, but his policies are actually job-killers.
The combination of cuts in take-home pay for public workers and cuts in state and local programming are likely to eliminate about 16,000 private-sector jobs during the first year of his budget, according to IWF’s preliminary estimates using conventional economic modeling.
The real economic damage comes from the ripple effects of his policies: as less money is spent by governments or government employees, there is less spending at the local level. When these localized impacts accumulate over the course of time and throughout the state, the total effect is the loss of thousands of good private-sector jobs.
In this news clip, IWF’s Jack Norman joins State Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-Madison) in challenging Walker’s so-called jobs strategy.
Millionaire tax could pay for training to fill waiting job slots
State Senator Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) and Assembly Representative Cory Mason (D-Racine) have introduced the Wisconsin Jobs Initiative -- a bill to provide technical training for 35,000 Wisconsin workers. This investment would be paid for by creating a new top income tax rate for those with an income over $1 million.
The cost to millionaires is relatively small and the payoff for the state economy is massive. With unemployment crippling the economy and polls showing that two/thirds of voters support higher taxes on the wealthy, the bill seems like a win-win for Wisconsin leaders.
For more, click here to see the latest issue of IWF’s Fair and Adequate newsletter.
Walker’s Special Session is a jobs fraud
The Governor says his Special Session of the Legislature is about jobs, but it’s really about rewarding campaign donors. Here’s what IWF’s Jack Norman told the Business Journal of Milwaukee about the Special Session bills:
“Much of it is irrelevant to jobs. The stuff that might impact job creation is marginal or long term. There is nothing to solve the immediate crisis, which demands jobs now.”
Update on SC Johnson tax non-payment
See latest issue of WhoDoesNotPayTaxes?
It took awhile, but SC Johnson eventually fessed up to its tax-avoidance scheme.
It started when the previous issue of IWF’s newsletter, WhoDoesNotPayTaxes?, disclosed that the company paid no state income tax in 2000-2008.
Click here to see what happened afterward.
Consultant’s report shreds SC Johnson’s tax denials
IWF responds to company’s press statement
New details have emerged in the wake of IWF’s recent disclosure that SC Johnson and other companies controlled by the Johnsons, Wisconsin’s wealthiest family, haven’t paid Wisconsin income tax.
IWF has obtained a copy of a previously confidential report, prepared for SC Johnson in 2008 by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The report—intended as a sales pitch to win SC Johnson business for PwC—describes some of the Racine firm’s tax-avoidance techniques and casts doubt on the company’s response to IWF.
And a nationally prominent columnist, David Cay Johnston of Reuters, devoted a lengthy column to IWF’s disclosures and the contents of the PwC report. Johnston questions whether the Johnson enterprises are being held to a high enough standard by Wisconsin tax authorities.
Also, SC Johnson issued a statement on the tax issues, to which IWF has responded.
- IWF’s original disclosure about tax avoidance by Johnson firms
- PricewaterhouseCoopers report on SC Johnson taxes
- Column by Reuters’ David Cay Johnston
- SC Johnson press release
- IWF press release responding to SC Johnson
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's PolitiFact article Sept.11, 2011
Click here for more details.
Fond du Lac gets news about tax-exempt properties
A IWF report on the proliferation of tax-exempt real estate was given a Fond du Lac focus in a May 22, 2011 story in the Fond du Lac Reporter: “Report: Too many tax-exempt properties in Fond du Lac area.”
The story says that in 2010, the conversion of taxable to tax-exempt status for several properties cost the city about $3.2 million worth of taxable property. Agnesian HealthCare, the largest health-care provider in Fond du Lac, owns 23 tax-exempt properties, according to the story.
City Assessor Don Wegner said he plans to begin recording a lot size for every tax-exempt property in the city, as an effort to obtain more information about tax-exemptions.
Click here for a copy of IWF’s report, Too Many Loopholes: How to turn property tax exemptions into revenue for local government.
Drastic state budget cuts are NOT, repeat NOT necessary
The 2011 - 2013 Wisconsin State Budget that Governor Walker proposed cuts over $2 billion from cities, towns, counties, schools, colleges, and state services. The result will be a jump in unemployment, a drop in economic activity, reduced services to all citizens and thousands of personal tragedies as senior citizens lose home care, parents of children with disabilities lose respite help, public safety is less effective and low-income families face higher taxes, higher costs for childcare and higher costs for healthcare. This is an everybody-loses budget designed to address the state budget shortage. But this slash and burn plan ignores revenue options that would increase state income and eliminate the need for such dire budget cuts. The Wisconsin Values Budget, an alternative budget proposed by IWF and 34 other non-profit organizations, offers choices that are grounded in Wisconsin’s deepest values which promote opportunity, security, and freedom for all Wisconsinites.
See the brochure of the Wisconsin Values Budget
IWF releases new catalog of tax alternatives:
there are many ways to avoid drastic budget cuts
A report by the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future (IWF) in April 2011, offers a range of alternatives for increasing state revenue. IWF’s new Catalog of Tax Reform Options for Wisconsin looks at changes throughout the state tax system.
Enacting every option would generate $4 billion in yearly revenue, far more than needed. Enacting a subset of them would offset harsh cuts to schools, municipalities, counties and safety net programs. The catalog is a guide for a balanced approach to addressing the state deficit.
> Full report Catalog of Tax Reform Options for Wisconsin
> Short version of the Catalog of Tax Options
> Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's op-ed by Jack Norman and Karen Royster
The proposed budget will affect your community
April, 2011- Oshkosh, LaCrosse, Appleton, Eau Claire, Racine, Richland Center, Northshore Milwaukee, Waussau — across the state, hundreds of people are crowding into school auditoriums to hear about the budget Governor Walker has proposed for Wisconsin.
It is not good news. Local officials from each community are explaining how much funding the community will lose and how that loss will affect people and businesses.
Schools are receiving the largest cut in state aid while local officials are forbidden to raise property taxes to offset the funding reduction. The result? Teachers get the pink slips and students face larger classes with fewer course options to prepare them for college. Cities and counties are looking at 10% cuts in shared revenue that will lead to fewer services — including buses and transport for the elderly and people with disabilities, safety nets for families in crisis, basic maintenance of streets and infrastructure, even reduced public safety resources.
Pay cuts for public sector workers with hurt the local economy. When families’ income shrinks, retail activity drops, costing communities millions of dollars and thousands of jobs.
Ironically, all these cuts not only fail to resolve thestate deficit but increase the deficit by almost $60 million. A lose-lose budget for the state’s economy, local communities and the individuals and families who live there.
Materials from the community forums:
PowerPoint presentation on the budget
Sample letter to legislator
Fiscal Fact Sheet