Earlier this month, about the time that the Milwaukee County Board was considering a wheel tax, State Representative Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) announced that a bill that was being introduced that would eliminate the possibility of local governments of enacting a wheel tax:
State Representative Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) introduced a bill in the State Assembly to repeal authorization for local governments to impose a Wheel Tax on vehicles owned by residents. The bill would prohibit any new local Wheel Tax enactments and require that existing wheel tax collections cease within 18 months. The wheel tax value is added on to the annual state vehicle registration.
[...]
Nass also noted that the Wheel Tax is becoming antiquated as Governor Doyle and legislative Democrats have authorized all sorts of new taxes and fees at the state level and provided local governments with new local option taxes/fees. The Wheel Tax was intended for local governments to finance transportation related expenditures, while holding down property taxes. However, the reality is that the Wheel Tax is simply being used to increase spending without providing relief on the property tax levy.
I would be able to support this bill if one amendment was added to it.
It should be amended to add that the State of Wisconsin should fully fund all the mandated services that it imposes on the local governments.
Of course, Milwaukee County wouldn’t even have considered a wheel tax if the state legislature had honored the will of the people from a year ago, when they called on the state to allow us to help ourselves through a dedicated sales tax.