Around two years ago, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue changed the method by which municipalities valued private properties. The state concluded — correctly — that municipalities were often over-valuing and thus over-taxing private properties. For businesses, a correct, lower assessment meant less in taxes; for municipalities, an over-valuation was useful to extract as much in tax revenue as possible.
(I’ll write more tomorrow about what this meant for Whitewater’s failed tax incremental district 4. In brief: it was a convenient excuse for poor city planning.)
One of the businesses that benefitted from a correct assemement – rather than an inflated one — was Generac. As their assessment went down, so did their taxes owed.
An accurate assessment was the right decision — Generac shouldn’t have to pay on an inflated value.
And yet — and yet — consider what this means by consequence: Generac plays less into the public coffers in taxes, but now wants more from the public coffers in subsidies for a bus line to suit its own business needs.
Businesses that don’t want to pay more in taxes shouldn’t take more in taxes.
Whitewater’s municipal administration should have told Generac – or any other big business — exactly that.