JFC Votes for RTA In Dead of Night

Nice.

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee early Friday approved creating a board that could impose a sales tax of up to 1% in Milwaukee County to pay for transit, parks and emergency medical services.

The committee also voted to create a commuter rail authority in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties, which would be funded with a $16 fee on car rentals.

The vote for a sales tax came at 2 a.m., after the Democrat-controlled committee was bogged down for 12 hours in closed-door meetings. The budget meeting was to begin at 11 a.m. Thursday but did not start until 11 p.m.; the motions on transit weren’t unveiled until after 1 a.m. Friday.

The sales tax could rise as high as 6.6% in Milwaukee County under the plan adopted by the committee. The full Legislature and Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle would have to sign off on that proposal.

More taxes.  More spending.  More pain for Wisconsin’s citizens. 

I’ll speak personally about the rental car tax.  I rent a car in Wisconsin about once every month or two to drive to the Twin Cities.  It’s cheaper than driving my own car and expensing the mileage.  I’ll have to rethink that if it will cost another $16.  There’s a very real possibility that our local rental car company is going to miss out on my business because of this. 

This is good.

The sales tax plan passed 11-5, with Sen. John Lehman (D-Racine) joining the committee’s four Republicans to vote against the proposal. Lehman re-joined the rest of the committee’s Democrats in voting for KRM.

Good for the Republicans and Lehman for voting against this.