Frequently Asked Questions About the November 4th Sales Tax Referendum
Opponents of the November 4th Sales Tax Referendum are hard at work to deliberately confuse and scare residents of Milwaukee County into voting "NO".
Read below for some answers to the Frequently Asked Questions about the Sales Tax Referendum.
Myth #1 : A 1% sales tax increase will make Milwaukee County a "tax island" and drive people to shop in neighboring Counties!!
FACT: Nearly every other major metro area in the County has a higher sales tax rate than it's immediate neighbors and local businesses continue to thrive despite that. For example Lake County, Illinois has a 10.75% sales tax, yet business like Miller-Coors choose to do business there and retail business continues to thrive.
In light of high gasoline prices, it's doubtful that people will drive an extra 30 to 60 miles in order to avoid the higher sales tax and save $5-$10 on a big ticket item like a washer or dryer.
Finally, when was the last time you made a decision on where to take a vacation with your family or buy a home based on a sales tax? Take a look at the sales tax rates for some popular destinations across the Country:
Chicago 10.25%, New York 8.375%, Las Vegas 7.5%, Orlando Florida 6.5%, Minneapolis 7.4%, Anaheim California 7.75%, Phoenix Arizona 8.3%, Seattle Washington 9.0%.
Currently, the Milwaukee County sales tax rate is 5.6%. An additional 1% would make it 6.6%
Myth #2 : This is the largest tax increase in the history of Wisconsin.
FACT: This will lower your property tax bill by $170 per $150,000 of assessed home value. That's not a tax increase, that's real property tax relief.
You would need to spend an extra $17,000 on retail items subject to the sales tax to offset that property tax relief for homeowners.
Lastly, a sales tax is shared by those who live in Milwaukee County and those who purchase items here. Nearly 30% of the money raised by a sales tax would come from visitors to Milwaukee County (Think Cubs fans from Chicago or visitors to the Art Museum) meaning Milwaukee County property owners would no longer be the only ones supporting our parks, culture, and transit services.
Myth #3 : This is a regressive tax and will disproportionately affect those who make less.
FACT: Items such as food, prescriptions, gasoline are exempt from sales taxes and none of these items would be affected by a 1% sales tax increase. As an example, food purchased at a grocery store, a necessity, is exempt from sales tax while food purchased in a restaurant, a luxury good, would be subject to sales tax.
Myth #4 : An increase in sales tax will drive businesses OUT of Milwaukee County!
FACT: A sales tax actually has very little to do with where a business chooses to operate. Case in point: Miller Brewing recently moved most of it's management operations to Chicago, a city with a 10.25% sales tax. Miller also cited a reliable public transit system as one of the deciding factors in their decision to move from Milwaukee to Chicago.
