WMC’s New Tactic? The Fear of Fear Itself.
WMC is always against corporations paying their fair share in taxes. Now, they’re using the economic downturn to try and frighten all of us into laying down while WMC rams its radical pro-corporate agenda down our throats.
In a new radio ad out this week, WMC is subjecting hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin citizens who are paying their fair share to their audio propaganda sledgehammer. It seems the bottom dwellers at WMC are doing their darndest to capitalize on the fear many of us are feeling about the economy.Here’s a sampling of the radio ad script:
‘More than $200 million in new taxes on employers.
In a recession? That’s going to make things worse.
Wisconsin will be less competitive.
Our families will have fewer jos.
{With fewer jobs, our communities have fewer resources for schools, and parks, and
roads.}
When business taxes go up, businesses may not move here.’
Scared yet? Don’t worry, the horror show continues.
‘Wisconsin’s economy is in a recession and we shouldn’t be increasing business taxes,’ said James S. Haney, WMC President. Well Mr. Haney, when was the last time you supported any tax increase at all? How about the year 2003? Would that have been a good time for the big corporations in Wisconsin to finally begin paying their fair share? Well, that wasn’t the right time either, apparently. WMC registered against 2003 AB-391 that would have closed the Las Vegas Loophole, which allows corporations to skirt their tax responsibility by opening up a mailbox in Nevada.
What about during the 2006-2007 session? Well, that wasn’t a good time either for WMC; they registered against 2007 AB-328, the exact same bill.
So according to WMC during those good (or at least better) economic times, corporations shouldn’t have to pay their fair share. And during bad economic times, WMC still insists that corporations deserve a pass, albeit for different reasons. Hm, I’m beginning to see a pattern here. It seems no matter WHAT’S going on in the economy, WMC can find a reason to be against fair corporate tax policy.
Letting these corporations cheat the system obviously didn’t work. The disastrous results of the Bush economy have only just begun to extract their pound of flesh from the rest of us. Yet while the economy continues to collapse around us, conservatives all the way down from the Bush Administration, the old GOPer majority in State Assembly and WMC all continued to crow about the infallibility of the free market. ‘Corporations are special! They shouldn’t have to pay taxes like the ‘normal’ (read: peasant) folks’ the corporatists shouted again and again.
WMC is a dinosaur; their ideas are old and have been proven epic failures. Like Mark Miller said last week, WMC’s only mission it seems is to bad mouth Wisconsin in order to enrich themselves. Thankfully, this last November gave progressives the momentum we needed to overcome their corporate propaganda. Now without a foot to stand on, and with their influence in the Capitol in Madison diminished, WMC has resorted to the dirtiest of dirty tricks: making hay off the fear of others.