A $60 vehicle registration fee, or wheel tax, is needed beginning in 2017 to help pay for Milwaukee County’s bus transit system and costs of repairing county highways and parkways, County Executive Chris Abele said Thursday.
The new fee would be a dedicated source of funding for transportation and generate around $27.1 million a year, Abele told reporters at the courthouse.
The county fee would be paid on top of the state’s $75 registration fee for vehicle owners, for a total of $135. City of Milwaukee vehicle owners already pay a separate wheel tax of $20 so the total for city owners would become $155.
As County Executive Abele eyes a run for governor in 2018, his proposal to levy a $60 wheel tax on Milwaukee County’s vehicle owners seems like an attack ad that writes itself.
Isn’t it time for us to take a good look at all the tax-exempt properties that pay no property taxes? Obviously government property should remain tax exempt, but there are many religious organizations that pull in a heap of $$$$$’s and pay no taxes of any sort.
Trivia quiz: Name some local pastors who own multiple high-end motor vehicles and live in luxury.
Instead of a wheel tax– tax the churches. God will not complain– She supports it.
Edward- How about the Bradley Foundation’s mansion? Those guys dont pay a dime in taxes as a “charity”, but buy off politicians and pay for voucher lobbyists who have systematically defunded Wisconsin’s largest city and county.
Honestly, I think Abele is bluffing, and trying to illustrate how badly Walker and WisGOP have done in adequately funding local government. But I agree that this sinks any chance of him running for Guv in 2018, and maybe that’s by design (which wouldn’t be a bad thing)