http://www.wisconsinsfuture.org News updates from the Institute for Wisconsin's Future. IWF's mission is to: 1) Sustain strong communities where effective public structures ensure every person and business has the opportunity to succeed and prosper. 2) Promote a revenue system for Wisconsin that generates adequate funding so that local government, school districts and state programs can maintain quality services. 3) Strengthen citizen engagement and power in public policy decision making through community education and organizing. 4) Champion state and local tax policies that are fair and progressive. en-us Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:00:00 CST Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:00:00 CST vstrattner@wisconsinsfuture.org (Vickie Strattner) vstrattner@wisconsinsfuture.org (Vickie Strattner) http://www.wisconsinsfuture.org The highly-publicized Harley-Davidson situation has nothing to do with state tax policy, despite the efforts of many conservative commentators to link the two. This is clear from facts about Harley’s taxes contained in a short new IWF report, "Harley-Davidson: It’s not about state revenue policy". http://www.wisconsinsfuture.org Wisconsin loses $1.2 billion every year due to the "Tax Gap", the difference between what is legally owed by taxpayers and what is actually paid. This equals one out of every $10 collected by the state as general purpose revenue. The estimate is in a new IWF report: Wisconsin’s Billion-Dollar Tax Gap— How uncollected taxes can help fill the state’s budget hole. http://www.wisconsinsfuture.org Who isn't paying their share of property taxes? That was the focus of attention for about eighty local officials and other leaders -from over 30 Wisconsin communities -at an all-day conference in Madison, February 19, sponsored by IWF. The conference was titled Rethinking Ways to Fund Local Government: Exploring Property Tax Exemptions. Particular attention was paid to large nonprofit health-care systems; real estate speculators who abuse agricultural assessment; billboard owners; and nonprofit housing for affluent seniors. For more information about the conference and conference materials, see the IWF website. http://www.wisconsinsfuture.org Assembly Bill 215, now before the Assembly's Committee on Jobs, the Economy and Small Business would handcuff local government assessors who have been trying to properly assess the taxable value of billboards. AB215 is tailor-made for the billboard industry rather than for the local governments which depend on property tax revenue to fund essential services.