Fletcher opposes combined reporting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Shannon Stone, Campaign Manager, (920) 737-3546

With the growing call for a special Legislative session to discuss and hopefully repeal the toxic Combined Reporting Tax, it makes us wonder who our Senate and Assembly leaders and Governor Doyle were listening to when this damaging tax was passed. The Wisconsin Manufacturing Commerce and most Wisconsin businesses foretold of the negative consequences that taxes that attack businesses would do to our state economy. It has exacerbated our job losses totaling 160,000 over the past year.

This anti-business tax has done untold damage to our economy and our strong manufacturing base. The last budget spending increase of 7.9% was, in part, funded by fee increases and taxes such as this totaling approximately $4.5 billion. These increases were with our state and nation headed into the worst recession that we have seen in 70 years.

The next Senate, Assembly, and Governor will have very tough choices to make. We need to lower our spending and lower the burden to businesses, industries, and families.  This is the only way we can expect our industrial base to expand and grow there by putting them into a position to once again hire more of our unemployed workers to well paying jobs. Our state now has more state jobs than manufacturing jobs for the first time in our history. Before businesses will come back to our state we will have to prove to them that we are once again a business-friendly state.