Scott Walker Has Himself To Thank

By Jeff Simpson - Cross posted at Purple WI.

 In the wierd world of Wisconsin Politics. Governor Scott Walker took to social media, to slap himself on the back.   

"My property taxes went down largely because my technical college portion went down 35.5% because of the money we put in at state."
— Scott Walker on Friday, December 12th, 2014 in a tweet

In what has also become commonplace in Wisconsin Media, Politifact rushed to give him cover.   

In a tweet, Walker said: "My property taxes went down largely because my technical college portion went down 35.5% because of the money we put in at state."

He’s right. We rate his claim True.

A deeper look at the numbers, and we see why the Wisconsin Budget is in such a mess.  Scott Walker's property taxes did go down this year $118.
 

The governor owns and lives in a $360,000 home on a busy street in suburban Wauwatosa in Milwaukee County. An online database shows his total bill fell $118 or 1.4 percent this year.

His total bill: $8,364.

Of course last year, not so much - up $1100.  

Walker had less to brag about last year at this time, when his property tax bill jumped more than $1,100. It coincided with the 2013 citywide property revaluation in Wauwatosa. Walker’s property assessment rose 11 percent that year. 

OUCH.  By the way, in the four years Walker has been Governor - his property taxes(even after the massive$118 deducation) have went up $1300!  
 

Our Mathmatically challenged Governor consider taxes going up $1300/yr as a win.   he has himself (and maybe a really poor math teacher in high school) to thank for this.   

I know that the "amen chorus" will attack because the tax increase came from the city of Wauwatosa.  Of course it did, when the State Government starves municpalities and school districts as a way to pretend they cut taxes, the money has to be come from somewhere.  The streets of wauwatosa do not plow themselves.   

Cutting these payments is not saving taxpayers money, it is passing the buck. 

By the way while Scott Walker has his self to blame for his own MASSIVE tax increase, there have been a couple other things in the news that he also has himself to thank -  or blame.  

Thanks to massive cuts to the UW System our friends to the north are paying a steep price:

University of Wisconsin-Superior announced on Friday that it’s suspending five academic programs.

The following programs will no longer be offered at the school as of this Monday:

Educational Specialist Degree
Applied Discrete Mathematics concentration
French minor
French education minor
German education minor

Thanks Scott, now the students at UW Superior will be less prepared to tackle our world economy when they graduate.    

Then of course there is Wisconsin falling further in debt than we already are:

Over the next two years, the state's costs to keep up its current services will outstrip its expected tax collections by more than $800 million, according to the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office.

The brief analysis by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau provides the sharpest picture yet of the challenge that Gov. Scott Walker and lawmakers face as they try to keep the state's main account balanced while weighing competing concerns such as schools, health care and the pocketbooks of taxpayers.

Thanks Scott, sorry I missed your tweet on this piece of "great" news or I could have congratulated you sooner.   

Buckle up, I have a feeling there will be many many more things like this that we get to "thank" Scott Walker for in the next four years.