Jay Weber Show transcript 7/12/23
City of Milwaukee leaders voted to create a new two percent sales tax- to be collected starting January first...
And I got a kick out of the false drama over the vote ahead of time.
The j/s story and the various tv news reports suggested that there was no certainty this would pass-right up until the time of the vote.
Bullplop.
This was never in question. Of course, Milwaukee alderman were going to approve this: they are all left-wingers and aren’t about to cut city services-in any way- if they can help it.
The result of this vote was never in question-and it’s insulting our intelligence to suggest otherwise.
Moreover, the public hearings that the council members held on this idea were also nothing more than an insult, because they already had their minds made up on how they were going to vote before thehearings were ever held.
All of that was going thru the motions, only.
Of course, they were going to approve it-and there was no genuine drama ahead of time. The move to tax people more passed on an overwhelming 12 to 3 votes. The state legislation stipulates that the city and county leaders need to have at least a 2/3 majority of their panels approve the tax hike-
Meaning city leaders needed to get 10 out of 15 votes. They got twelve. It was never in doubt.
The only three alderman to vote against it are also liberals-but at least had enough integrity to listen to their constituents.
Alderman Mark Chambers surveyed his district-and his residents were overwhelmingly ‘no’, and so he voted with their wishes. Miele Coggs says the flood of feedback she got was nearly all ‘against’, given that it’s a tax that hits poor households the most.
The third ‘no’ vote was Andrea Pratt.
Mark it down: three aldermen followed the will of the people.
The other twelve voted to implement a sales tax that represents another 200-million dollars a year in taxation-so they can keep spending in their normal, dysfunctional manner.
And to those city residents who are PO’d about this but voted for one of those twelve-my advice is: vote differently.
Stop voting democrat.
My second bit of advice is: hold a grudge. Voters tend to almost immediately forget the offenses that their own elected officials do against them-
And alderman who voted for this assume the anger will quickly fade and even voters who were against this will keep putting them into office-
So- bit of advice number two: hold a grudge. Remember this. Remember how this person screwed you over and raised your taxes the next time elections are held-and then vote against them-and if you have the time and energy-work against them-to push them out of office.
Otherwise- you get the local government you deserve. These twelve alderman were voted into office by voters who have the power to remove them- and if city residents don’t-well then, their ever-higher taxes and their ever-more-dysfunctional government is ‘on them’.
City of Milwaukee voters get the leadership they deserve and voted for, so enjoy your nearly 8-cent sales tax now on virtually everything you buy.
Those of us who live in the suburbs largely aren’t affected by it. We can easily avoid it if we really want to. You can’t. Congratulations on your new sales tax.
And it will go up again before the end of the year- because the Milwaukee County board is going to vote on an additional point-four percent sales tax increase that this state legislation allows for. And there isn’t going to be any drama in that vote, either. Of course, they will approve it.
And so- the 7.5 percent sales tax for city businesses will move to 7.9 percent. 8 cents on every dollar. Because you have such ‘good government’ in Milwaukee.
And remember- most of these liberals who are rushing to raise the price of virtually everything you buy-are also rushing to court to kill off the state-imposed restrictions on how they can spend this money.
Republicans in Madison tried to assure that this additional revenue would only be spent on the vital things that city lefties have been whining about for decades: unfunded pension mandates, more police, etc.
They did what they could to at least ‘hem in’ how city and county leaders could use this money for pension obligations, etc.
Well-Milwaukee dems immediately ran to court because they want to spend this cash on the trolley and on expanding diversity programs...and all sorts of nonsense that is decidedly not going to help solve the city’s longstanding problems.
It tells you everything you know about the honesty and the motivations of today’s democrats that they can moan and whine for decades about how they need more money for pensions and police officers-
And then when the get it- pout and pitch a fit that they can’t use that money for something else, instead.
Today’s democrats are neither honest, nor trustworthy, and the reason that there’s so much anger being directed at Robin Vos and the republicans in Madison over gov Evers’ vetoes-
Even though-
Gee- it was Evers who made the vetoes, not the republicans. He should be the bad guy-
The reason that there’s so much venom being shot at Vos and GOP lawmakers is that ‘they should have known better’. They should know by now that democrats in general, and Tony Evers and Maggie Gau cannot be trusted.
For heaven’s sake-this is the team that was caught taping their private conversations and negotiations at the start of the Evers regime.
These are the people who are holding grudges that date back over a decade- into the walker era-and whose sole motivation over the last four years has been: to harm the republicans. Make ‘em hurt. Get payback.
And so-be angry and disappointed at Vos and LeMahieu and GOP budgeters who should have been smarter about protecting our tax cut- and such-
But reserve most of your anger for gov Evers and the Milwaukee democrats who clearly never intended to keep their word or live up to their deals.
And. Vote. Accordingly.
Stop voting democrat.
In the instance of Milwaukeeans-including left wing Milwaukeeans- alderman Coggs, Pratt, and Chambers listened to you. None of the others did. Vote accordingly.
But let’s not pretend that there was any drama in this vote-given the alderman that have been elected to these positions over the years. Of course, they were going to raise your taxes.
This is like bringing a wolf home to your sheep ranch and expecting that it won’t kill your flock.
What did you think these leftists were going to do? Buckle down and do some tough and responsible budgeting?
Not a chance.
Not when they were warning of catastrophic cuts if they didn’t get their new revenue, here. And by the way- it was highly dishonest gaslighting.
This is nearly a two-billion-dollar budget that the city of Milwaukee operates on.
For 2023- this council approved a 1.7-billion-dollar budget. This new sales tax revenue only raised another 200 million a year-
And yes-that’s significant-
But look at all the extreme claims they were making about budget cuts if they didn’t raise taxes.
All of that was going to be cut-if they didn’t get another 200-million dollars on top of a 1.7-billion dollar budget?
Bullplop.
It was alarmist gaslighting.
And they held public hearings to pretend as if the voters of Milwaukee had a voice ...or some influence. Over the decision-and they didn’t.
These leftists were going to raise your taxes-and by a full two percent sales tax-the minute the state legislature allowed them to.
No one talks about the fact that these city leaders could have chosen to go lower and approve a half cent- or one cent- sales tax. Start smaller. See what sorts of additional revenue is really needed-
Nope. They went right for the full swing-and then pretended there was some drama before the final vote.
If you fell for that, you’re a dope.
photo credit: Fox 6 News/Milwaukee