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DONATE
to IWF |
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change in Wisconsin, please make an online tax-deductible
donation. |
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Legislature moves to close
Wal-Mart loophole
Congratulations to legislative leaders from both houses and
both parties, who agreed to close Wal-Mart's notorious real
estate tax scam as part of the state budget repair bill.
If enacted, the measure would shut down Wal-Mart's (and
unknown others') use of intricate tax techniques to avoid
taxes by paying rent to itself.
It's a relatively small fix (estimated to bring in $15 million
this biennium) but an important first step in much-needed
corporate tax reform. It's a change IWF has long urged.
For more details, see:
»
IWF press release
» Statement
by Sen. Majority Leader Russ Decker
» Analysis
by Legislative Fiscal Bureau (see item #24)
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IWF Staff in new offices. |
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IWF has a new home
Since the fire in our former office building
in January, the staff at IWF took on the additional task of
finding new quarters. After several false starts and dashed
hopes, we found office space at 325
West Silver Spring Drive in Glendale, on Milwaukee’s
northeast side. With easy access to the freeway, the new location
is ideal for the staff’s statewide work. We are settling
in, the computers are hooked up, the phones are installed
– the new number is 414-967-1682, and even a few pictures
are up on the walls. It’s great to be up and running
again! To add to the homey atmosphere, there is actually a
decorative fireplace in the main room.
With any luck, it will never see a fire. |
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Message delivered to Legislature:
Change the school-funding system
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Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts, Middleton,
and Sen. Roger Breske, Eland, testified before a
packed house, Nov. 15, on Senate Joint Resolution
27. |
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Partners in WAES and their friends from around the state
delivered an important message to legislators, Nov. 15 –
in the strongest way possible: Wisconsin’s school-funding
system is broken, it needs to be thrown out, and the Legislature
needs to come up with a better plan by July 1, 2009.
The audience for over six hours of testimony was the Senate
Education Committee and the point of the message was support
for Senate
Joint Resolution 27. Committee chair Sen. John
Lehman, Racine, said he expects the resolution to clear
both his committee and the Senate. It’s fate in the
Assembly is uncertain and no committee hearing has been
scheduled.
SJR 27, and its Assembly companion AJR35, were authored
by Sen. Roger Breske, Eland, and Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts,
Middleton. Their view of the day’s hearing is available
on the
Wheeler Report.
Click here for more
information, pictures, and testimony from the WAES panel
of testifiers.
Read additional coverage from:
Milwaukee
Journal-Sentinel
Wisconsin
State Journal
WISC-TV,
Madison
Wisconsin
Radio Network
Waukesha
Freeman
Wisconsin
Public Radio
The entire hearing can be seen on Wisconsin
Eye, the state’s new C-span like
network.
Read editorial comments from Ashland
Daily Press,
Wisconsin
State Journal,
and Spooner
Advocate.
Find
out what you can do to help.
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WAES
moving toward independence
For seven years, the Wisconsin
Alliance for Excellent Schools (WAES) —one
of the rising stars in the school-funding reform effort
—has been a project of the Institute for Wisconsin's
Future. That long and productive relationship is coming
to an end due to WAES success.
The coalition will soon be even more effective as an independent,
self-sufficient, membership organization. It will still
be the only statewide, broad-based, and diverse player in
the reform movement. WAES will continue to concentrate on
involving and educating communities around the state and
helping people become effective advocates for their children
and their education.
With the forming of WAES in 2000, IWF made the transition
from researching and talking about school-funding reform
to making the issue the basis for a statewide organizing
effort. While other organizations suggested tweaking and
massaging the formula, IWF pushed comprehensive reform that
recognized the needs of every child in the state.
A first step toward an independent WAES was taken, July
30, at a meeting in Wausau. Thirty coalition partners, serving
as an interim governing board, talked about everything from
dues to a board of directors to the Wisconsin Adequacy Plan,
the new school-funding system developed by WAES. The goal
is to spin off the “new and improved” coalition
early in 2008.
Click here to get
the lowdown on the WAES reorganization.
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