One Solution to Solve Multiple Problems
Wispolitics is reporting that a deal has been reached on a budget repair bill. They report that the deal would use $209 million from tobacco securitization payments and would delay $125 million in school aid payments into the next biennium. The compromise would also close a corporate tax loophole being used most notably by the largest corporation in the world, Wal-Mart. Wispolitics is reporting that addressing this loophole will add $15 million in revenue to the state budget.
Holding large corporations accountable by closing this loophole is a good start, but there is a much larger corporate loophole that still looms. The Wisconsin Department of Revenue estimates that the ‘Las Vegas Loophole’ costs the state $260 million a year. In using this tax loophole corporations set up dummy corporations in places like Nevada to avoid paying their fair share in Wisconsin. Closing this one corporate loophole could have solved our current budget gap all by itself.
Corporations take full advantage of our state’s infrastructure and other assets. They should also take full responsibility at tax time. The time of shortchanging the State of Wisconsin and passing the buck to individual taxpayers should end. Closing the ‘Las Vegas Loophole’ would have not only solved our short term budget issue but also the long term inequality that is currently built into our tax system.