The real work of addressing our state's tax problem yet remains to be tackled.

Wisconsin has excellent services created at both the state and local levels of government.  Local government, and ultimately the property taxpayers, must supplement state revenues as local units of government deliver much needed and worthwhile state services.  Yet our antiquated system of taxation remains inconsistent with our new millennium service-based economy resulting in a notable lack of linkage between the cost of services and the citizens' ability to pay.  To be certain, SJR 63 would have memorialized this inconsistency in our constitution and placed Wisconsin's future generations in an extremely difficult fiscal position.  Nonetheless, our system of taxation requires review, careful contemplation, and thoughtful change.  Such an endeavor will, without question, get more to the source of our state's revenue and expenditure problem.  SJR 63 would have addressed a symptom of our problem, not the problem itself.

Our state policy makers, to their credit, saw this and decided to set SJR 63 aside.  But let there be no mistake, much work needs to be done.  The defeat of SJR 63 is not an end but rather an opportunity for a beginning as we examine the very real problem of revenues, expenditures, and who pays.

Mark D. O'Connell

Executive Director