Milwaukee Biz Blog

Wisconsin is about to enter summer, the most important period of the state's tourism industry. With gas prices at an all-time high, the summer tourism forecast is uncertain. Will people stay home, or will they opt to spend their leisure time close to home here in Wisconsin?

What is clear is that Wisconsin's year-round tourism business translates into big bucks for the state economy. The Department of Tourism estimates tourism, the state's third largest industry, added more than $12.8 billion to the state economy during 2007. From 1994 through 2007, travel expenditures increased in Wisconsin 122 percent.

Calculating the impact of state tourism is based on a formula that includes about 2,000 face-to-face interviews with travelers to Wisconsin in all seasons at various events, 3,000 telephone interviews with lodging properties, and over 1,000 telephone interviews with Wisconsin households that hosted travelers or other guests.

Summer, the period June through August, is Wisconsin's busiest and most productive tourism season, raking in $4.9 billion during 2007. Fall, September through November comes next with $3.1 billion, followed by spring, March-May with $2.6 billion, and winter, December 2007 through February 2008 with $2.2 billion.

Where are most of the tourism dollars spent? Milwaukee County leads the pack with $1.678 billion. Next is Dane County with $1.184 billion. During 2007, Sauk County, home of Wisconsin Dells became the third Wisconsin county to surpass the billion-dollar mark in tourism spending at $1.047 billion.
Rounding out the state's top ten counties in traveler spending were Waukesha, Brown, Walworth, Door, Outagamie, Sheboygan and Vilas counties.

The contribution to Wisconsin businesses by travelers is significant. Wisconsin travelers spend $3.94 billion on shopping, $3.41 billion on food, $2.84 billion on recreation and $1.61 billion on lodging.
The vast majority of travelers are here for leisure, 70 percent. The leisure category includes sporting events, casino trips group tours, festivals, and visit to families and friends. Another 19 percent were here during 2007 on business, and 11 percent attended meetings or conventions.

Over half, 53 percent of travel expenditures during 2007, $6.7 billion was spent on overnight stays in hotels, motels, resorts, and Bed and Breakfasts (B & B's).

Another 37 percent did not spend on lodging. Instead, they fell into the category of day trippers, or they visited families and friends. Even so, they still spent $4.71 billion, a sizeable figure for travelers just passing through. The rest of the travelers were campers or stayed in cabins, cottages or condos.
Businesses prosper. So does state employment. Wisconsin's tourism industry during 2007 supported the full-time equivalent of 200-thousand jobs and $3.6 billion in wages and salaries, covering a wide variety of positions from entry level and part-time to management and executive slots. The Tourism Department estimates that if jobs indirectly related to tourism are factored in, the industry supports 302,000 jobs and $7.09 billion in wages and salaries.

The contribution in taxes and fees is also substantial, $1.422 billion to the state and $638 million to local governments, totaling $2.06 billion.

The Department of Tourism is banking on the state's new branding initiative to help grow Wisconsin's tourism industry. According to the Department, "The new brand platform pays tribute to Wisconsin as a place where the people are fiercely proud, passionate and loyal, and where the culture fuels creativity and embraces originality. It puts the spotlight on the Wisconsin style of hospitality and the friendly people who deliver it, giving visitors a genuine sense of belonging. This hospitality and culture of originality allow visitors to fully 'be themselves,' in other words, to relax and pursue their passions."

The brand promise reads: "Because of the passionate nature of the state's people to create fun, express themselves in original ways and feel more comfortable doing it here than anywhere else, in Wisconsin originality rules."

A new theme line, advertising concepts and marketing materials will be developed based on the brand promise.

If your summer vacation plans include Wisconsin, know that you are contributing to the state economy and one of the state's largest and most successful industries.

State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents Wisconsin's 28th Senate District.

Wisconsin’s Do Not Call List is phenomenally popular. During 2007, more than 1 million Wisconsin residential phone lines were covered by the list that is operated by the Wisconsin by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP).

Unfortunately, fewer telemarketers at dinner time mean more salespeople knocking on your door.
DATCP is warning residents to be aware of door-to-door salespeople who are popping up more frequently in Wisconsin neighborhoods selling home improvements, lawn care, the traditional vacuum cleaners, meat, and even investments. The department is offering tips on proceeding with caution whenever you get an unexpected knock on your door.

Avoid being pressured to sign any contract on the spot.

Call DATCP’s hotline at 1-800-422-7128 for information about complaints.

Rather than being compelled to make a quick, impulsive purchase, do some comparison shopping.
Be sure you are aware of the exact total you must pay, not just the monthly payment.

There is also the notorious fine print to worry about. DATCP reports one alarm company had in its contract fine print that it could increase monthly fees when it so desired and could demand payment of monthly fees in full if the purchaser ever canceled the contract. If you are being pressured to pay more than the original contract indicates, you are advised to call local law enforcement.

Since August 1, 1999, Wisconsin has had a direct marketing rule providing consumer protection that applies to telephone, e-mail, fax, mail, and door-to-door transactions. These include purchases made in places away from the seller's place of business.

All direct marketers, including door-to-door salespeople must, after a short greeting, tell who they are, who they are working on behalf of and what they are selling.

Before finishing the sale and taking any credit card information or cash, direct markets must tell consumers the cost, quantity, conditions, refund policy and the name and address of the principal company.

A direct marketer must obtain verifiable authorization before a credit card is billed and must keep transaction records for at least two years.

According to DATCP, the direct marketing rule also prohibits:

• Threatening, intimidating or harassing consumers.
• Failing to leave a consumer's premises upon request.
• Calling consumers who previously said they do not wish to receive telephone solicitations from that seller.
• Calling consumers before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. without their prior consent.
• Requesting or receiving payment for loan finder services before the consumer actually receives the promised loan. This is aimed at companies that promise loans, charge a fee, and disappear without producing the loan.
• Requesting payment for helping consumers recover money lost in a prior home solicitation transaction until at least seven days after the consumer recovers the money. This is aimed at so called "recovery room" schemes, which prey on previously victimized consumers.

Wisconsin law also enforces a three-day cooling-off period. A consumer has three business days to consider and cancel a direct marketing sale of $25 or more that occurs away from the seller's regular place of business. The three-day right to cancel begins after the seller has provided the purchaser a written notice of the right to cancel.

Consumers exercising the right to cancel are advised to send notice by certified mail. Money must be returned within 10 days. If the seller does not pick-up the product in 20 days, the purchaser may keep it.
Direct marketers who violate the rule may receive a civil forfeiture of up to $10,000 or a fine of up to $5,000 and be imprisoned for up to a year. For more information, contact the Division of Consumer Protection at 800-422-7128.

If you have comments on this or any other issue, please contact me at Sen.Lazich@legis.wisconsin.gov,

State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents Wisconsin's 28th Senate District.

You have completed, signed and sent in your income tax returns and you may be pondering this question: How does the government spend my tax dollars? Where does most of the money go? Does the bulk of my taxes go to pay for schools? Roads? The war in Iraq?

Those are daunting questions, considering all levels of government, federal, state, and local spent $4.1 trillion during 2007. Approximately two-thirds of your taxes go to the federal government, with the remaining third going to state and local governments.

Using data from the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis, MSNBC.com crunched the numbers to calculate how your taxes are spent.

The largest chunk of tax dollars, 22 percent, goes toward income security that includes Social Security, welfare, disability payments and unemployment insurance. The next-largest expenditure, 20 percent, goes for health care that includes Medicaid and Medicare. A significant 42 percent of American tax dollars is spent on entitlement programs.

Public safety, including national defense and local police, fire, prison and court costs make up another 20 percent of taxes.

Then comes education. About 74 percent of taxes spent on education goes toward elementary and secondary schools, with most of the rest paying for colleges, and the remainder for public libraries. Overall, education accounts for 16 percent of your tax dollar.

Since government doesn't pay taxes, someone has to pay for the cost of government and that, of course, is you. When government spends more than it generates in revenue (sound familiar, Wisconsinites?) and resorts to credit card budgeting by borrowing money, there is interest that must be paid. The cost of managing all levels of government takes up another 14 percent of tax dollars, with the largest portion (63 percent) being the interest paid on borrowing. Other government costs include salaries, expenses and the cost of actually collecting taxes.

That leaves 8 percent of taxes that goes to pay for roads, agriculture, airports, air and water quality, the space program and recreation.

Let's review how American tax dollars are spent according to the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis:

• Income security: 22 percent
• Health care: 20 percent
• National defense/public safety: 20 percent
• Education: 16 percent
• Cost of running government: 14 percent
• Miscellaneous: 8 percent

Finally, who pays what in taxes in America?

A 2007 report by the non-partisan Tax Foundation in Washington D.C. reported: “In general, households that earn the most income pay the most dollars of taxes. This is no surprise, since income and payroll taxes make up a very large portion of the nation's tax bill. Overall, the most tax dollars were paid by households in the top income group. They paid an average of $81,933 in taxes - $57,512 to the federal government in Washington in 2004 and $24,421 to state and local governments at home. Households in the middle income group - which some refer to as the 'middle class' - paid an average of $21,194 in taxes, or $13,028 in federal taxes and $8,166 in state and local taxes. America's lowest-earning households - those earning less than $23,700 in cash money income in 2004 - face the nation's lowest tax burden. Households in the bottom income group paid an average of $4,325 in taxes in 2004, or $1,684 to the federal government and $2,642 to state and local governments."

Taxes at all levels of government remain too high, severely impairing income growth, job creation and retention.

The best way to get a handle on taxes is to curtail runaway spending.

State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents Wisconsin's 28th Senate District.

I voted against the Great Lakes Water Compact bill on the floor of the state Senate. The legislation, Senate Bill 523, passed the Senate, 26-6.

For a year and a half, I served on the Legislative Council Special Study Committee on the Great Lakes Compact. The committee was outstanding, the most meaningful committee I have served on during my years in the Legislature.

The makeup of the committee was amazing in that such a varied group of individuals including legislators, interest groups, businesspeople, environmentalists and university officials managed to work diligently for countless hours on a critical issue of enormous magnitude. There is not an issue that is more important than the compact.

The way the committee ended its work is telling, because more time was necessary to develop the best compact possible. The sheer length of the compact was a signal the document needed further study.
Once the compact is adopted, its policies will remain intact for generations to come, so the job must be done right. Unfortunately, the compact, as written, contains page after page of language that is broad and vague, as outlined by our highly respected Legislative Council.

Thirty-three amendments were proposed to the Great Lakes Compact bill with little time for legislators, the press, interested parties and the general public to review. It is frustrating to me as the most vocal opponent of the compact that so many amendments were dropped at the last minute onto a bill that totals over 150 pages. This is no way to run a ship.

The heavy amount of broad language in the compact indicates this issue almost certainly will wind up in federal courts for years and years to come. The compact constitutes make-work for attorneys.

I agree that there needs to be a compact. While I am the biggest opponent of the compact, I am also the strongest advocate for a compact that manages our water resources wisely. It’s important for the states to come together, develop an understanding and come to a compromise.

However, the current compact has major flaws, including the one-state veto provision. Allowing one governor from another state to deny a water diversion to citizens that cannot vote for that governor is a very serious problem with the compact, as written.

To relinquish our sovereignty to a regional body of governors that can make changes after the compact is adopted is unacceptable. Where else do we have a dictatorial or totalitarian form of government where we give up our decision-making authority?

I do not support a document that relinquishes our sovereignty to another state. I also do not support legislation that is jammed down our throats at the last minute without appropriate time to examine the bill’s complex details.

The just-completed legislative session ended without a consensus on the compact. Either Gov. Jim Doyle will call a special session or the legislature will call itself back into extraordinary session to address the compact.

I renew my suggestion that Wisconsin work with Ohio officials that share the same concerns about the compact. The goal should be not to get the job done quickly, but to get it done right.

State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents Wisconsin 28th Senate District.

One of the best bills approved by the state Legislature in recent years was the creation of the Wisconsin No Call List.

About 1 million Wisconsin residential telephone numbers have been added to the list since its inception in 2003 to help block telemarketers from interrupting people at home.

The state Senate has approved a bill to expand this popular, free service. Senate Bill 99 (SB 99) expands the No Call List to include cell phone numbers. SB 99 also allows a small business to request that a land line or cell phone number be included on the No Call List that is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP).

More and more consumers are using cell phones as opposed to land lines. Consumers that exclusively use cell phones will now be afforded the same opportunity to request privacy from telemarketers.

Also under SB 99, a telemarketer is prohibited from calling a customer who has verbally informed the telemarketer that the customer does not want to receive telephone solicitations.

Penalties for violators would increase from the current forfeiture of $100. SB 99 increases the forfeiture for violators to not less than $1,000 or more than $10,000.

I expect the state Assembly to approve SB 99 and the governor to sign the bill into law. SB 99 would become law five business days after the governor signs the legislation. Until then, only residential land line phone numbers can be registered on the Wisconsin No Call List.

While SB 99, if signed into law, will give cell phone users the option of registering their cell phone numbers, I urge thoughtful consideration.

Federal law prohibits telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phones. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advises that you may put your personal cell phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry, and now you may soon have the option to place your cell phone number on Wisconsin's No Call List. However, there is generally not a reason to do so.

Registering your cell phone is unnecessary and a very bad idea. Cell phone numbers are unpublished. If you provide your cell phone number to the national do not call list, suddenly, it becomes a published number. The lists of numbers must be purchased by telemarketers so they can comply with the do not call registry. It would be extremely easy for unscrupulous entities and foreign, international entities to get their hands on the numbers. Your best bet is to avoid registering your cell phone.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a news release stating: "Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations prohibit telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers. Automated dialers are standard in the industry, so most telemarketers are barred from calling consumers on their cell phones without their consent. The national associations representing telemarketers have stated that their clients do not intend to start calling consumers' cell phones.”

I do suggest registering your residential land line number on Wisconsin's No Call List.

There are two ways to sign up for the Wisconsin No Call List. You can sign up over the phone by calling 1-866-9NOCALL (1-866-966-2255), toll-free in Wisconsin. You can sign up at the Wisconsin No Call List website at: https://nocall.wisconsin.gov/web/registration.asp.

Only one adult in each household needs to register. There is not a charge to register for the Wisconsin No Call List.

State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) can be reached at Sen.Lazich@legis.wi.gov.

I've written extensively that Wisconsin's high level of taxation is forcing too many residents to pack up and leave. New data indicates the disturbing trend continues, having a damaging effect on our ability to compete.

During November 2005, the Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance issued a very troubling report entitled, "Moving In, Moving on: Migration in Wisconsin."  During the five years prior to the 2000 census, almost 669,000 people either moved to or out of Wisconsin. However, the net in-migration into Wisconsin was a meager 7,282.
Individuals with college or advanced degrees were more likely to leave, while those with less education tended to come. Individuals with household incomes above $75,000 left Wisconsin. Those with incomes of $200,000 or more had the highest rates of leaving.

The huge exodus of wealthy Wisconsinites leaving the state caused a loss of an estimated $4.72 billion in net worth and a loss of $455 million in income over the five years of this study. That means far fewer in-state bank deposits, less stock in Wisconsin firms, less investment capital for in-state ventures, and less money given to local charities.

We are losing our best and brightest at a very young age, and we're experiencing retiree flight.

Last month, the USA Today reported that Americans are moving across state lines at the highest rate since the early 1990s. U.S, Census Bureau data shows lots of people are moving, but not to Wisconsin, which ranks at number 45 among the states, with 1.9 percent of the state's population in 2006 having moved here from another state.

Now The Wall Street Journal reports, "Americans are uprooting themselves and moving to places where there is economic vitality, opportunity and a high quality of life. They are going, in short, to where the action is."

Arthur Laffer, president of Laffer Associates, and Stephen Moore, senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal editorial board, confirm that high taxing and spending have had a negative impact on Wisconsin's ability to compete and cause many people to relocate elsewhere.

Laffer and Moore write in The Wall Street Journal,  "Five of the states near the bottom of our competitiveness ratings - Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey and Wisconsin - have enacted major tax increases in the last two years. Maryland and Michigan just raised business and income taxes on upper-income earners, while arguing that raising the cost of doing business will attract more businesses. More likely it will induce companies to stay away, and people to move out."

Laffer and Moore say the record movement of citizens across America has little to do with the weather. They say the states with the most dynamic and desirable economies are generally the states with the lowest tax, spending and regulatory burdens. These states win the battle for the prized commodity of human capital. The big losers are high taxing and spending states in the Midwest and Northeast.

The American Legislative Exchange Council has just released a study Laffer and Moore conducted that presents a 2007 Economic Competitiveness Rating of the 50 states. During the past decade, Laffer and Moore discovered that, "the 10 states with the highest taxes and spending, and the most intrusive regulations, have half the population and job growth, and one-third slower growth in incomes, than the 10 most economically free states. In 2006 alone 1,500 people each day moved to the states with the highest economic competitiveness from the states with the lowest competitiveness."

Wisconsin ranks at No. 30 on the Economic Competitiveness rating. Hurting Wisconsin is its ranking at No. 45 for property tax burden, the fifth-worst in the country, a ranking of No. 30 for the top marginal personal income tax rate and a ranking of No. 32 for the top marginal corporate income tax rate.

Laffer and Moore contend that policy decisions made by state legislators matter. They write, "State officials can influence these factors - the economic, fiscal and social policy legislation that contribute to, or in all too many cases against, the livability of a state. If you don't believe that economic policies matter, then why is it that thousands upon thousands of people in East Germany risked their lives and fortunes every year to get through the Berlin Wall to move to West Germany? Why is it that Mexicans line up at the U.S. border to get into this nation to live and work here by whatever means they can, but not too many Americans sneak over the border to get into Mexico?”

The prescription is clear. The remedy to stop people from voting with their feet in Wisconsin is to stop the hemorrhaging of taxing and spending.

State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents the 28th Senate District.

Government health care, as proposed by Senate Democrats and approved in their version of the state budget, is fraught with exorbitant costs, high risks and political problems.

An informational hearing on July 11 of the state Senate Health Committee that I serve on featuring testimony from two experts offered me little, if any reassurance, in part because the experts were not completely aware of all the details in the government health care plan.

One of the speakers at the hearing was Stanford University economics professor Alain Enthoven, considered an expert in health care. During his presentation, Enthoven testified that the current health care market needs rules and management. During my questioning of Enthoven, I noted that the Senate Democrats' plan would be administered in a political environment. As a result, it is inevitable that a government health care system will have political rules and management, and that is troubling.

A glaring example is the fact that a single group is treated differently by the Senate Democrats' proposal. School districts with some of the best benefits in the state are in the plan; however, they are guaranteed that their benefits will not change to conform to the government plan that the rest of us will be forced into. In essence they are out of the plan.

Another disturbing element is the effect the plan would have on many excellent Wisconsin institutions like the Dean Health System, Marshfield system and many others that are performing outstanding work through research and innovation. Political rules and management that would dominate government health care have the harmful potential of stifling the progress of these tremendous medical facilities. The state should not be an obstacle to creativity in the private sector.

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) on Aug. 23, 2004, released a report on health care costs in Milwaukee. Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett requested the report. The findings showed that health care costs in Milwaukee are higher than in other parts of the country. Local employers reacted by working in conjunction to form mini-groups with purchasing power. This type of private sector innovation would disappear under a government plan that eliminates private insurers and institutes political rules and management.

Professor Enthoven had to admit during my questioning that he was not aware of all of the political components of the Senate Democrats' plan and even called the potential of political rules and political management a "serious problem in our democracy."
The other invited speaker was former state Senator and former Department of Health and Family Services Secretary Joe Leean. Leean insisted teachers are included in the government plan and are treated the same as everyone. They are not.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau wrote a memo I requested about teachers and the universal health care plan:
"Municipal Employment Relations Law. Provide that the definition of economic issue would include 'health insurance coverage of benefits not provided under the Healthy Wisconsin Plan.
"Under current law, the definition includes the term 'health insurance.' Further, provide that, for the purpose of determining if a school district employer has maintained current fringe benefits requirements under current qualified economic offer (QEO) law, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) would be required to consider the employer to have maintained its health care coverage benefit if the employer provides health care coverage to its school district professional employees through the Healthy Wisconsin Plan and supplements that coverage, if necessary, to produce a health care coverage benefit that is actuarially equivalent to the health care coverage benefit in place before the school district professional employees become covered under the Healthy Wisconsin Plan."

In other words, teachers are guaranteed to retain their current coverage. The rest of us will take the plan dictated by the government health authority.

During the July 11, 2007, Health Committee hearing, I was more than a bit surprised that two invited speakers were brought in to testify in support of government health care and lecture the committee about the plan while they both were unaware of some of the more critical and troubling elements contained in the proposal.

Finally, this is the worst possible time to even be thinking about increasing taxes in Wisconsin. There are numerous Wisconsin leading indicators crying out that a government one-size-fits all health care program is folly.

1. The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WTA) has done some projections on the cost of the Senate Democrats' plan, Healthy Wisconsin (HW), if the plan were to begin in 2007. The WTA reports:
   "Based on 4.6 percent annual wage growth projected by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, HW revenues would increase from $15.2 billion in 2007 to $23.9 billion in 2017. If (the consulting group that worked on the government health plan), the Lewin Group is correct and health costs grow 6.5 percent per year, plan expenses would reach $28.4 billion by 2017. If costs grew eight percent, similar to recent increases in the existing state employee plan, spending would reach $32.8 billion.
   "Since the result would be deficits of between $4.5 billion and $8.9 billion, if the state HW (government) plan were to remain solvent, total payroll tax rates now set at 14.5 percent would have to rise to between 17.3 percent and 19.9 percent over the next decade.”
2. The WTA study, "Wisconsin's Eroding Household Income," reports on Wisconsin income trends based on figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. From 1999 to 2005, Wisconsin's median household income fell 2.2% from $45,667 to $44,650, while the national median rose 13.8% from $40,696 to $46,326. Wisconsin ranked 50th in the nation in household income growth during the period. This is no time for Wisconsin to enact the largest tax increase in the history of the United States.
3. Wisconsin is undergoing a foreclosure crisis.
4. American businesses like Sears and Home Depot are experiencing lower profits due to a housing slump.
5. China's trade surplus has rocketed to new heights.

There may never be a good time for government health care in Wisconsin. However, now is clearly not the time for the Senate Democrats' plan fraught with politics controlling health care, and Wisconsin current economic indicators ranking Wisconsin as one of the highest taxed states, with the lowest income growth, and a forecast of less jobs and less income due to the largest housing slump in 16 years.

State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents the 28th Senate District.

Like a blast of arctic air, Wisconsin got a chilly dose of news about the condition of our business climate: It's getting worse.
The latest state-by-state ranking of business climates is available. Wisconsin ranks No. 38 on the list of the most business-friendly states, dropping from No. 32 the previous year. The 2007 version of the State Business Tax Climate Index was prepared by the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C.   
Five areas of taxation were examined to compile the rankings: individual income taxes, major business taxes, sales taxes, unemployment insurance taxes and taxes on wealth or assets  (that would include property taxes).
Wisconsin's discouraging ranking should be another warning sign that Wisconsin taxes are too high. The Tax Foundation reports, "Taxes matter to businesses. In a highly competitive global market, states need to make their tax systems friendly to business in order to facilitate the expansion and growth of business. A simple tax system that is fair to all businesses is the best way for states to have a competitive business tax climate."
States with lower taxes can and do steal business from states with higher taxes. The U.S. Department of Labor, in a June 2004 study entitled, "Extended Mass Layoffs Associated with Domestic and Overseas Relocations," reveals that more often than not, states lose jobs to other states, not to other countries. Wisconsin should worry about Mexico and China. More importantly, Wisconsin needs to fear nearby states with more favorable business climates, such as Indiana (No. 12), Illinois (No. 25) and Michigan (No. 27).
Taxes affect the number of jobs retained and created. Taxes play a role in the location and construction of plants. The most important effect taxes have on business is a reduction in profits. When taxes bite a bigger chunk out of profits, the costs are passed on to workers and consumers. Workers bear the brunt of higher taxes with lower wages and fewer jobs. Businesses frown on setting up shop in a state with taxes that produce smaller profit margins.
The five states with the best business climates are Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska, Nevada and Florida. Wyoming and South Dakota do not have corporate or individual income tax, Alaska does not have individual income or sales tax, Florida does not have individual income tax and Nevada does not have corporate income tax.
The best way to improve Wisconsin's dreary business climate is to make our tax system less punitive on everyone. Easing Wisconsin's tax burden would also keep more people from leaving.
During November 2005, the Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance issued a very troubling report entitled, "Moving In, Moving on: Migration in Wisconsin."  During the five years prior to the 2000 census, almost 669,000 people either moved to or out of Wisconsin. However, the net in-migration into Wisconsin was a meager 7,282.
Individuals with college or advanced degrees were more likely to leave, while those with less education tended to come. Individuals with household incomes above $75,000 left Wisconsin. Those with incomes of $200,000 or more had the highest rates of leaving.
The huge exodus of wealthy Wisconsinites leaving the state caused a loss of an estimated $4.72 billion in net worth and a loss of $455 million in income over the five years of this study. That means far fewer in-state bank deposits, less stock in Wisconsin firms, less investment capital for in-state ventures, and less money given to local charities.
We are losing our best and brightest at a very young age, and we're experiencing retiree flight.
Young adults leave for college, especially to Minnesota because tuition reciprocity with Minnesota means students cross the border at little or no added tuition cost. Western states like California, Arizona and Colorado also draw Wisconsin youth.
True, senior citizens head to Florida and Arizona for warm weather. They leave for another reason: economics. High-income seniors go to Florida at higher rates than to Arizona, the reason being Florida does not have income tax.
The best way to cut taxes is to reduce spending.  I support a constitutional amendment to control the growth in the increase in spending. It tells state and local governments that just like families struggling to get by, they, too must live within reasonable means.
Wisconsin simply cannot afford any more moving vans.

If you have comments on this or any other issue, please contact me at Sen.Lazich@legis.wisconsin.gov or Senator Mary Lazich, State Capitol, P.O. Box 7882 Madison, WI 53707 or 1-800-334-1442.