Milwaukee Public Schools advances state tax disclosure proposal

Milwaukee’s school board has advanced a pioneering resolution that could lead to all Wisconsin’s school districts demanding meaningful state tax disclosure legislation.

On Aug. 9, 2007, the Legislation, Rules and Policies Committee of the Milwaukee Public Schools Board voted 5-0 to urge the Wisconsin Association of School Board to support comprehensive tax disclosure legislation. The resolution goes to the entire MPS Board on Aug. 30.

The resolution, crafted by MPS Board President Peter Blewett, recognizes that schools are dependent on a reliable stream of adequate state revenue. But as the resolution states, “few members of the public have access to accurate and current information about who actually pays Wisconsin taxes and how much they pay.”

The resolution urges the state’s school boards to endorse a tax disclosure law that would require three elements:

»A regular tax incidence study, “showing how tax responsibility is distributed among income groups and other categories”

»A regular report on tax expenditures (“tax credit, deduction and exemption programs that reduce state and local revenue”)

»And publicly accessible data on state corporate income taxes.

All three items are important elements of tax disclosure, which IWF strongly endorses.

Click here for the full text of the MPS resolution.(Word doc)