Selective Reporting Must Go

JS Online:Decker and Senate Democrats have proposed combined reporting as part of the budget talks. But Gov. Jim Doyle, also a Democrat, opposes it, as does the  Republican-dominated Assembly.

Why is it that Demopublican Doyle always seems to side with the Republican party. Here is another instance of a really basic reform put forward by Senator Decker that Jim Doyle opposes.

Wisconsin is one of the few states that does not require combined reporting. Here is a simple table that explains how Wisconsin’s selective reporting works.

 

In all fairness Wal*Mart is probably getting a bad rap. Not because its innocent of wrongdoing but there is a big list of corporations using selective reporting. In the article Kohl’s denied selective reporting yet it is one of the businesses on record using it. Yes, this is the same Kohl’s that receives a $27,000 per employee kickback from the state of Wisconsin. As Pomp rightly points out, these loop holes or tax scams are by design not some corporation exploiting the Wisconsin tax code.

Here is the cold hard truth. Selective reporting is just another form of corporate welfare Doylie uses to claim he is pro-business. Corporations may come to our state and use selective reporting to export much of their profit to states where it is not taxed.

While I wish Decker and the Senate Dems the best of luck in getting combined reporting though I am not very optimistic. We have a corrupt governor who is at the service of corporate America. Like health care, or frankly any issue that affects working Wisconsinites, Doyle will side with corporations at the expense of Wisconsin citizens.