GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The author of an Assembly Republican plan that addresses Wisconsin’s transporation spending and taxes says it could save the state billions of dollars.
Representative Dale Kooyenga has introduced a plan that calls for lowering the state’s minimum markup law on gasoline from 9% to 3%.
Kooyenga noted during Monday’s edition of WTAQ’s Jerry Bader that Wisconsin is one of just two state’s with a rate as high as 9%.
The plan also calls for lowering the gas tax while applying the state sales tax to gas.
“We should not have money going from the general fund to the transportation fund. This allows us to do one of the largest income tax cuts in decades in Wisconsin by saying ‘okay, now the users of transportation are going to pay for the transportation system.”
Kooyenga says the overall proposal would lower the price at the pump.
Wisconsin currently has a $939,000,000 transportation deficit.
Governor Scott Walker has stated he does not see raising the gas tax or vehicle registration fees as the solution to that problem.
While the state’s Joint Finance Committee has said it will scrap the governor’s proposed transportation plan for the next two-year budget and start from scratch, Kooyenga says his plan has been accepting to Walker’s transportation proposal.
The Brookfield Republican’s plan also calls for implementing a flat tax of 3.95% in Wisconsin by the year 2029.
Kooyenga notes it would eliminate various tax credits in order to provide overall rate reductions.
“We’re minimizing spending through the tax code by just getting rid of a lot of credits that take a lot of time to fill out, that pick winners and losers.”
He says many of the tax credits are only used by a small percentage of the state’s filers.
Kooyenga recognizes the plan is open to scrutiny but says Wisconsin’s leaders can’t keep playing it safe.
“We’re going to get more and more of a complicated tax code, and we’re going to get farther and farther away from having a state that has a lower tax rate.”
Kooyenga says his plan would allow the state to pay down debt while saving billions of dollars over a 20-year period for road projects and providing tax relief to Wisconsin residents.
To go into effect, the idea would need a thumbs up from Senate Republicans and Governor Walker.
