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Statement to Joint Finance Committee (2/1/05)
My name is Cathy Atkinson. I am a resident and taxpayer in Waukesha. I am here today to speak against this proposed property tax freeze. As I tried to gather my thoughts for today, I realized there is probably nothing I can say that you have not already heard as to why many of us feel that this proposal is unacceptable. So instead, I have decided to ask you a few questions. I understand that in this type of forum these will basically be rhetorical questions; nevertheless, I hope they give you something to think about.
Number One: How can you support a proposal such as this, knowing the damage it will do to the outstanding public education system in Wisconsin? The state of Wisconsin ranks at or near the top in numerous measures of educational excellence. The limits proposed in these bills will devastate public school programs and services throughout the state. We understand that the legislature is not cutting its funding for education - instead, you are forcing local school districts to make the cuts. How can you ignore that?
Number Two: How can you honestly say that you are representing your youngest constituents - the children - while supporting this proposal? Are you willing to come to our schools in Waukesha, meet with our children face to face, look them in their eyes and explain how you are representing them by causing the Waukesha school district to lose an additional $1.6 million dollars over the next two years? What kind of message are you sending to your most vulnerable constituents with legislation such as this? How can we as a society tell children that they should value education, yet they see legislation like this that clearly does not? What kind of models are we being for our children?
Number Three: How can you claim that you truly believe government should spend less money, yet one of the first actions taken by the Assembly this session was to pass a plan to create numerous committees and bill the taxpayers $2.6 million for it?
Number Four: How can you ignore the facts that tell us local government spending is NOT out of control? Over the past 10 years spending on K-12 education has grown more slowly than the rate of state personal income. State and local tax burdens, as a percent of personal income, have decreased from 12.7% in 1993 to 11.3% in 2003. School property tax levies, as a percentage of personal income, have gone down from 2.8% in 1994 to 1.9% in 2004. And now you want to reduce funding even more?
Number Five: How can you disregard research which shows that taxes are not the most important factor in business location decisions? Rather, a well-trained labor force and high quality public services are more important factors to businesses - yet, this proposal undermines both of these.
Number Six: As elected public servants, have you forgotten that our taxes actually do give us something? They provide the necessary services for a community to function. I don't understand why you only focus on getting "relief" from taxes instead of celebrating the services and high quality of life they provide for us? All we are asking for today is local control over the services we provide in our own communities.
As a high school social studies teacher I try to teach my students that in a democracy, we all are responsible for each other. I tell them that in a democracy, they have a voice that can be heard. Unfortunately, they are not old enough to vote yet, nor are they able to contribute huge sums of money to political campaigns, but they are our future - everyone's future. We cannot forget about them. You must think about the damage that will be done to the children of Wisconsin if this legislation is passed. You must not pass it. Thank you.
Posted February 3, 2005