Conservatively Speaking

Gas prices in southeast Wisconsin remain obscenely high, right around the $3.50 per gallon mark. Exorbitant prices have federal and state officials scurrying for knee-jerk solutions.

At the federal level, Congress has targeted what many in the public perceive to be the obvious villain: the oil companies. The House of Representatives has passed the Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act that goes after what the Act calls unconscionable pricing. The Act makes it "unlawful for any person to sell, at wholesale or at retail in an area and during a period of an energy emergency, gasoline or any other petroleum distillate ... at a price that is unconscionably excessive; and indicates the seller is taking unfair advantage of the circumstances related to an energy emergency to increase prices unreasonably."

Similar legislation is currently being drafted by Democrats in the state Legislature.

Trilby Lundberg, the head of the California-based fuel market research firm, the Lundberg Survey, is a nationally-known expert on the fuel industry. She is the go-to person when the news media wants analysis on fuel issues. Lundberg says it’s not gouging when price levels can be attributed to market conditions, a current factor that Lindberg asserts is definitely affecting our sky-high gas prices.

"Record breaking prices are the result of a record breaking number of refinery shutdowns and extended delays in returning to production from scheduled maintenance," Lundberg told Reason Magazine. Lundberg emphasizes that since March there have been over 30 events in which refineries have either been closed or seen maintenance delays.

Three refineries had to be shut down because power was shorted out by a snake, a raccoon, and an opossum. One certainly can’t blame the oil companies for stray animals mucking up the works.

The resulting hit was significant. Lundberg estimates the total impact of reductions of U.S. capacity to be 42 million barrels, about 7.4 percent of total 2007 U.S. gasoline production through May 11, 2007. Supplies plummeted at a time that demand was up by two percent over last year. Economics 101 tells us that’s a formula for rising prices.

Sending prices upward is the complexity of today’s production. In the early 1980’s, half of regular gasoline was leaded. Not anymore. Mark Routt, a senior consultant with Energy Security Analysis Inc. says that since that time refiners have been required to produce ultra-low sulfur gasoline. Congress mandated during 2006 the mixture of ethanol into fuels. These ingredients are more expensive and can also cause the refining process to break down.

Anti-gouging legislation is now being considered by Congress and by our state Legislature. Lundberg calls such legislation, dangerously subjective. Her biggest concern is that anti-gouging legislation would result in a cap on gas prices. Suddenly, there would be a high risk of fuel shortages.

Routt of Energy Security Analysis Inc. considers anti-gouging legislation a joke. He said in Reason Magazine, "Why doesn't Congress set the price of green beans at the Winn Dixie and Piggly Wiggly while they're at it?"

Congress’ Office of Management and Budget also has a low opinion of such legislation, claiming it is an old, tired idea that aggravates shortages and increases hoarding of gas after natural disasters, preventing people who need fuel the most from getting it. Imagine not being able to obtain gas at any cost.

Then there is the plan being pushed by Governor Doyle and Democrats to tax oil company profits. The plan would, as analyzed, add five to seven cents to Wisconsin’s already outrageously high state gas tax. A Congressional version has also been proposed. Again, Routt chuckles at the notion of taxing oil companies.

"What do you think oil companies are doing with their profits?” asks Routt. "They're doing what they should be doing. They're investing it to produce more fuel."

Lundberg and Routt both predict prices may have peaked and will begin falling. Demand may have shrunk a bit when prices escalated. Higher prices could bring more offshore gallons that will help rebalance supply.

Problems could erupt if crude oil prices go up, and if refineries are forced to close. It is uncertain if that will occur but the experts are very clear about this: the worst thing that the U.S. could do to try to fix the gas market would be to try to fix the gas market.

This time of the year you see many American flags proudly displayed, waving over government buildings, schools, business and homes. Some of those flags have seen better days, having suffered through cold wintry snow, bitter winds, and driving rain. This would be an appropriate time to consider replacing Old Glory with a new flag.

Replacing the Stars and Stripes means proper and respectful disposal of your old flag. The U.S. flag code states, "The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning." You may contact your local American Legion office to assist you in the disposal of your flag. Veteran’s organizations hold special ceremonies throughout the year to respectfully dispose of old flags with dignity and decorum.

Remember, the annual observance of Flag Day is June 14. On that day in 1777, the Continental Congress approved the design of a national flag. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation declaring June 14 Flag Day and ever since, Americans have commemorated the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by celebrating June 14 as Flag Day.

There are special rules to follow when displaying the flag. According to the U.S. flag code:

• It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
• The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
• The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all-weather flag is displayed.
• When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half-staff.
• When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.
• When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street.
• The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
• The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.
• The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.
• The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free.

Summer is just round the corner and that means more motorcycles will be on Wisconsin roadways. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) says more than 450-thousand Wisconsinites have motorcycle licenses of permits and about 300-thousand motorcycles are registered. As a motorcycle enthusiast, I understand how important it is to be more aware of motorcycles on our roads.

According to the 2004 Wisconsin Motorcycle Safety Facts Book, the most recent compilation of motorcycle crash date from the DOT:

• Most motorcyclists injured or killed in crashes are ages 25-44.
• Most crashes occur in June and July.
• Most fatal crashes occur June-September.
• Most crashes occur between 3 PM and 6 PM.
• Most crashes take place during daylight in clear weather on dry roads.

The Motorcycle Foundation offers these tips for riding a motorcycle safely:

• Remember that motorists often have trouble seeing motorcycles and reacting in time.
• Use reflective strips or decals on your clothing and on your motorcycle.
• Be aware of the blind spots cars and trucks have.
• If a motorist doesn’t see you, don’t be afraid to use your horn.
• If you choose to wear a helmet, make sure it’s a quality helmet. Wear proper eye protection.
• Wear thick, protective clothing.
• Constantly search the road for changing conditions.
• Give yourself space and time to respond to other motorists’ actions.
• Give other motorists time and space to respond to you.
• Use lane positioning to be seen; ride in the part of a lane where you are most visible. Watch for turning vehicles. Signal your next move in advance.

What if you don’t ride a motorcycle? The Motorcycle Foundation has suggestions to follow for car and truck drivers to share the road and make driving safer:

• Look for motorcycles, especially when checking traffic at an intersection.
• When checking traffic to turn at an intersection or into (or out of) a driveway, predict a motorcycle is closer than it looks.
• Take an extra moment to thoroughly check traffic, whether you're changing lanes or turning at intersections.
• Allow more following distance, say 3 or 4 seconds.
• Understand that motorcyclists adjust lane position for a purpose, not to be reckless or show off or to allow you to share the lane with them.
• Allow more following distance behind a motorcycle because it can't always stop "on a dime."

Motorcyclists, drive safely this summer. Car and truck drivers, share the road safely with motorcyclists.

Wednesday night, Fox 6 News did a special investigation about the truth behind ramp meters. Those are the traffic lights on freeway entrance ramps. I was interviewed extensively by FOX 6 investigator Bryan Polcyn.

You can see the Fox 6 News Investigative report here.

Click on the play button on the far left of the video screen.

As I’ve written many times over the past few months, I strongly oppose Governor Doyle’s bloated state budget proposal filled with $1.75-billion in tax and fee increases. Soon the state Senate will review the state budget and I fear Senate Democrats will make the Governor’s budget even worse. I will not support the budget in its current form.


I have taken the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Here is the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) Taxpayer Protection Pledge that I signed to oppose tax increases.

You’ll see them out in the community, at the malls and at grocery stores: proud military veterans offering poppies for a donation. Every nine-piece poppy is painstakingly assembled by disabled and needy veterans, the bright red color symbolizing the bloodshed and sacrifices made by those who fought for our country. Proceeds are exclusively used to assist hospitalized and disabled veterans.

Dedicated veterans who make the poppies earn a small wage; for some, it’s their only income. The labor of love gives them a priceless sense of pride and accomplishment.

Poppies date back to the Belgium battlefields of World War I. Surrounded by soil damaged by death and destruction, red poppies somehow grew wild. Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian military wrote about the flower in his 1915 poem, In Flanders Fields: “In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row that mark our place…” McCrae’s poem inspired Madame E. Guerin, founder of the American and French Children’s League to choose the poppy as the most fitting memorial flower.

Guerin persuaded veterans’ organizations in several countries to sell the poppy to benefit underprivileged children in France. By the early 1920’s, Guerin had brought her campaign to the United States, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion were distributing poppies.

Today, the little red flower’s trademark is the Buddy Poppy, so named for the poppy makers and the memories of their friends who never returned home from war. Silk flowers today are made by veterans in 11 different locations around the country, including Milwaukee. Over three quarters of a billion Buddy Poppies have been sold by the Veterans of Foreign Wars for the aid, assistance, relief, and comfort of needy or disabled veterans or members of the Armed Forces and their dependents, and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans.

The cost of making the poppies really doesn’t matter. The memorial Buddy Poppy is given by a needy veteran in exchange for a contribution. Offering the poppies helps the Veterans of Foreign Wars live up to their longtime motto, “to honor the dead by helping the living.” Please consider a generous donation when you see these wonderful veterans, and wear your poppy as a remembrance of those who served and died for our country.

Today’s state Senate session marked the debut of the long-awaited WisconsinEye with a broadcast of the floor session online at the web site, www.wiseye.org.

At the beginning of today’s session on the floor, I said that the citizens of the state owe a debt of gratitude to former Lieutenant Governor and state Senator Margaret Farrow, the mother of WisconsinEye who worked for years to bring the service to Wisconsin. WisconsinEye, the state version of C-SPAN will bring state government directly to citizens, allowing them to see their state government in action and serving to make them better informed. For now, the broadcasts will be online with cable television broadcasts available sometime this summer.

An announcement was made on the floor near the end of the session that Senate President Fred Risser will schedule a public hearing on the bill to eliminate the sick leave benefit for elected officials. Senate Republicans have tried during the past few floor sessions to bring the bill up for a vote due to refusal of Senate Democrats to place it on the schedule. Senate Democrats have refused to allow the bill to be considered and have even resorted to quickly gaveling the session to an abrupt end to avoid debate or a vote. Senator Risser did not say when he will schedule the bill for a public hearing.

To see the bills that were taken up today and the votes, please click here and then click on the bills under the 10th and 11th orders of business.

Here is the state Senate calendar for Wednesday, May 16, 2007:

First Order. Call of Roll.

Second Order. Chief clerk's entries.

Third Order. Introduction, first reading and reference of proposals; reference of appointments.

Fourth Order. Report of committees.

Fifth Order. Petitions and communications.

Sixth Order. Advice and consent of the Senate.

Seventh Order. Referrals and receipt of committee reports concerning proposed administrative rules.

Eighth Order. Messages from the Assembly.

Ninth Order. Special Orders.

Tenth Order. Consideration of motions, resolutions, and joint resolutions not requiring a third reading.

QUESTION: Shall the resolution be adopted?

Senate Resolution 6. Relating to: reauthorization of the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program. By Senator Kreitlow.

Senate Resolution 7. Relating to: memorializing Congress to enact the Employee Free Choice Act. By Senator Robson.

QUESTION: Shall the joint resolution be adopted?

Senate Joint Resolution 20. Relating to: declaring June 14 Fighting Bob La Follette Day. By Senators Risser, Erpenbach, Kreitlow, Lassa, Lehman, Miller, Plale, and Wirch; cosponsored by Representatives Pocan, Berceau, Black, Boyle, Hahn, Hebl, Hilgenberg, Hixson, Pope-Roberts, Seidel, Sheridan, Sinicki, Travis, Van Akkeren, and Ziegelbauer.

Senate Joint Resolution 50. Relating to: commending Jeff Nania upon receipt of the 2007 National Wetlands Award. By Senators Schultz, Miller, and Kedzie; cosponsored by Representatives Huebsch, Gunderson, and Black.

QUESTION: Shall the joint resolution be concurred in?

Assembly Joint Resolution 12. Relating to: Seymour, Wisconsin, as the home of the hamburger. By Representative Nelson; cosponsored by Senator Cowles.

Eleventh Order. Second reading and amendments of senate joint resolutions and senate bills.

QUESTION: Shall the bill be ordered to a third reading?

Senate Bill 69. Relating to: information obtained by a tax preparer in the course of preparing a client's tax return. (FE) By Senators Sullivan, Erpenbach, Lazich, and Roessler; cosponsored by Representatives Friske, Berceau, Kerkman, A. Williams, Bies, Young, Ballweg, Kleefisch, Vruwink, M. Williams, Musser, A. Ott, and Van Roy

Senate Bill 129. Relating to: requiring a hospital to provide to a sexual assault victim information and, upon her request, emergency contraception and providing a penalty. (FE) By Senators Robson, Taylor, Miller, Plale, Risser, Erpenbach, Lehman, Wirch, Hansen, Jauch, Carpenter, Kreitlow, Coggs, Lassa, and Sullivan; cosponsored by Representatives Pocan, Benedict, Berceau, Black, Boyle, Grigsby, Hraychuck, Kessler, Parisi, Pope-Roberts, Seidel, Sheridan, Sherman, Shilling, Sinicki, Smith, Travis, Turner, Vruwink, Young, and Zepnick.

Senate Bill 131. Relating to: continuing education requirements for persons applying for a building permit. By Senators Lassa, Darling, Cowles, Olsen, Erpenbach, Leibham, and Kanavas; cosponsored by Representatives Wieckert, Petersen, Townsend, Jeskewitz, Soletski, Roth, Nygren, LeMahieu, Seidel, Newcomer, Honadel, Lothian, Strachota, Kestell, Gronemus, A. Ott, and Fields.

Senate Bill 180. Relating to: the timing of a joint review board meeting regarding tax incremental district number 3 in the city of Altoona. (FE) By Senators Kreitlow and Vinehout; cosponsored by Representative Moulton.

Twelfth Order. Second reading and amendments of assembly joint resolutions and assembly bills.

Thirteenth Order. Third reading of joint resolutions and bills.

Fourteenth Order. Motions may be offered.

Fifteenth Order. Announcements, adjournment honors, and remarks under special privilege.

Sixteenth Order. Adjournment.

The Senate Organization Committee will be meeting on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 1:00 pm to establish the calendar for May 16th, 2007.

The following items will be considered for placement on Wednesday's calendar.

Committee on Senate Organization
TENTATIVE CALENDAR
for Wednesday, 11:00 AM., May 16, 2007

Senate Resolution 6
Relating to: reauthorization of the federal State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
By Senators Kreitlow

Senate Joint Resolution 20
Relating to: declaring June 14 Fighting Bob La Follette Day.
By Senators Risser, Erpenbach, Kreitlow, Lassa, Lehman, Miller, Plale and Wirch; cosponsored by Representatives Pocan, Berceau, Black, Boyle, Hahn, Hebl, Hilgenberg, Hixson, Pope-Roberts, Seidel, Sheridan, Sinicki, Travis, Van Akkeren and Ziegelbauer.

Senate Joint Resolution 50
Relating to: commending Jeff Nania upon receipt of the 2007 National Wetlands Award
By Senators Schultz and Miller.

Senate Resolution 7
Relating to: Memorializing Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
By Senators Robson.
.
Senate Bill 37 (PH)
An Act to amend 48.60 (1), 48.625 (1), 48.65 (1), 48.651 (1) (intro.), 48.657 (1) (a), 48.657 (1) (b), 48.657 (2g), 48.66 (5), 48.68 (1), 48.69, 48.715 (2) (c), 48.715 (2) (d), 48.715 (2) (f), 48.715 (3) (intro.), 48.715 (4) (a), 48.715 (4) (b), 48.715 (4) (d) and 938.22 (7) (a); and to create 48.687 and 100.375 of the statutes; relating to: regulation of unsafe children’s products, extending the time limit for and providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, requiring the exercise of rule-making authority, and providing a penalty.
By Senators Lassa, Lehman, Risser, Schultz, Coggs and Miller; cosponsored by Representatives Albers, Jeskewitz, Sheridan, Pocan, Black, Wasserman, A. Ott, Vruwink, Cullen, Seidel, Krusick, Grigsby and Jorgensen.

Senate Bill 69 (PH)
An Act to create 100.55 of the statutes; relating to: information obtained by a tax preparer in the course of preparing a client’s tax return.
By Senators Sullivan, Erpenbach, Lazich and Roessler; cosponsored by Representatives Friske, Berceau, Kerkman, A. Williams, Bies, Young, Ballweg, Kleefisch, Vruwink, M. Williams, Musser, A. Ott and Van Roy.

Senate Bill 129 (PH)
An Act to renumber 50.38 (1); to amend 50.38 (2); and to create 50.375 and 50.38 (1) (b) of the statutes; relating to: requiring a hospital to provide to a sexual assault victim information and, upon her request, emergency contraception and providing a penalty.
By Senators Robson, Taylor, Miller, Plale, Risser, Erpenbach, Lehman, Wirch, Hansen, Jauch, Carpenter, Kreitlow, Coggs, Lassa and Sullivan; cosponsored by Representatives Pocan, Benedict, Berceau, Black, Boyle, Grigsby, Hraychuck, Kessler, Parisi, Pope-Roberts, Seidel, Sheridan, Sherman, Shilling, Sinicki, Smith, Travis, Turner, Vruwink, Young and Zepnick.

Senate Bill 131 (PH)
An Act to amend 101.654 (1m) (b) 1. of the statutes; relating to: continuing education requirements for persons applying for a building permit.
By Senators Lassa, Darling, Cowles, Olsen, Erpenbach, Leibham and Kanavas; cosponsored by Representatives Wieckert, Petersen, Townsend, Jeskewitz, Soletski, Roth, Nygren, LeMahieu, Seidel, Newcomer, Honadel, Lothian, Strachota, Kestell, Gronemus, A. Ott and Fields.

Senate Bill 180 (PH)
An Act to amend An Act to create 66.1105 (5) (bL) of the statutes; relating to: the timing of a joint review board meeting regarding tax incremental district number 3 in the city of Altoona.
By Senators Kreitlow and Vinehout; cosponsored by Representative Moulton.

Assembly Joint Resolution 12
Relating to: Seymour, Wisconsin, as the home of the hamburger.
By Representative Nelson; cosponsored by Senator Cowles.

It bears repeating that Governor Doyle’s proposed state budget contains $1.75-billion in tax and fee increases.

The Legislature’s budget-writing committee, the Joint Finance Committee, is now going over the biennial budget. The bad news is the tax and spend pattern that plagues Wisconsin continues.

Fees for registering a boat are going up. So are fees for dumping garbage. A fee for automobile titles that was scheduled to go away at the end of 2007 will remain.

Let’s go to the scorecard.

Governor Doyle proposed increasing the fee for dumping garbage in landfills. The fee would double, from $3 per ton to $6 per ton. The Joint Finance Committee approved the fee increase despite objections from Republicans who envision the increased fees being used as a slush fund to be raided by legislators for other purposes.

A $9 fee on titling new and used vehicles was scheduled to expire at the end of 2007. Not anymore. The committee decided to extend the $9 fee for two years through 2009. The good news is that the committee did not approve Governor Doyle's provision to make the fee permanent.

As I’ve written in the past, there’s a disturbing trend developing. The Joint Finance Committee is split 8-8, Republicans and Democrats. There have been and will be many more tie votes. Every time there is a tie vote, the Governor’s budget provision up for a vote stays intact. It’s going to be difficult for the committee to chop anything out of the Governor’s bloated budget. My fear is that the budget that emerges from the committee could be even worse than Governor Doyle’s budget.

The April income tax deadline has come and gone, and there’s some startling information about who paid what to the federal government this year. The data was uncovered by Scott Hodge, the president of the Tax Foundation, a research organization on taxation issues based in Washington D.C.

First, the not-so surprising news: The overwhelming majority of Americans are very dissatisfied when it comes to paying taxes, claiming their taxes are too high. There’s a faction that buys into the theory that their taxes are too low, but the percentage is miniscule, less than 10 percent. Most Americans share a common frustration with a highly complex tax code that keeps them guessing about how much they’ll owe in taxes year to year and makes them even less certain where or how their tax dollars are spent.

Taxpayers not only feel they’re being over-taxed, they believe they’re being taxed unfairly. A Harris Interactive poll commissioned by the Tax Foundation shows that 59 percent of Americans believe they pay more federal income tax as a percentage of income than billionaire Donald Trump. They contend the poor pay little and the wealthy have enough clout to get around the system and avoid paying what they should.

So what’s the real answer? Do cynical taxpayers have a point? Who pays what every mid-April?

According to the Tax Foundation, the vast majority of federal income taxes are paid by people with high-incomes. Using the most recent IRS data available, the Tax Foundation concluded that the top 10 percent of households, with incomes about $100,000 or more, pay about 70 percent of all federal income taxes. The percentage is up from just below 50 percent in 1980. When the top quarter of all taxpayers is taken into account, the share inflates to 85 percent.

IRS figures show the top one percent of income earners pays 36.9 percent of federal income taxes, the top 10 percent pays 68.2 percent, and the bottom 50 percent pays 3.3 percent. So much for the myth that the wealthy don’t pay taxes.

What’s causing the spike in the taxes paid by wealthier individuals? For the answer, you have to go back 40 years when the definition of the middle class was the stereotypical married couple with children, with a sole income earner, usually the husband. That was 1967. In 2007, the middle class from a statistical standpoint is a young, single individual with an income between $25,000 and $45,000. Today’s middle class marries later and divorces earlier. Scott Hodge of the Tax Foundation says the middle class household has gone from resembling “Ozzie and Harriet” to the cast of “Friends.”

Now add in this demographic: the era of the one-income family is long gone. Dual-income families are the norm, and the higher incomes have pole-vaulted households into higher income groups.

So are these new middle-class families rich? Not really. The Tax Foundation’s Hodge points out that if both husband and wife make about $37,000, they’re each considered to be middle-class by the number crunchers. But their combined income puts them in the top 20 percent according to the IRS.

What’s really astounding according to Hodge is the trend that has resulted in a decreasing number of Americans that now “overwhelmingly bear the national tax burden.” Policies aimed at helping the middle-class did lower their tax burden, but also wiped millions of Americans of the tax rolls completely. They file tax forms, but pay nothing, a phenomenon Hodge calls, “remarkable.”

Hodge notes that, “In 2004, some 42.5 million Americans filed a tax return but had no tax liability after taking advantage of their credits and deductions – up from 32 million just four years earlier. In addition to these non-paying filers, roughly 15 million individuals and families earned some income in 2004 but not enough to be required to file a tax return. One tax return often represents several people. When all of the dependents of these income-producing households are counted, roughly 120 million Americans – 40 percent of the U.S. population – are outside of the federal income tax system.”

Another Tax Foundation study is sure to make taxpayers even more upset. An amazing 60 percent of American households receive some form of government spending. In other words, a significant majority now get more in government spending than they pay to the government in taxes. In all, over $1 trillion is redistributed from the top 40 percent to the bottom 60 percent.

The Tax Foundation’s Hodge sees a backlash. Given a scenario of such a large number of Americans disconnected from the costs of government and being net consumers of government services, Hodge says the conditions are ripe for social conflict. He envisions these non-taxpaying voters demanding more government benefits since they fully realize others are picking up the tab.

Hodge’s dire prediction is that as baby boomers retire, they too will ask for more, creating what Hodge calls a “fiscal tsunami of entitlement spending.” How do we pay for it all? The alternatives are few: make dramatic cuts, or huge tax increases. The check you send to Uncle Sam could get very ugly.

There’s a mass e-mail sweeping across the computers of Internet users throughout America calling for a one-day boycott of gasoline Tuesday, May 15, 2007.

Here’s how the e-mail reads:

“NO GAS...On May 15th 2007

Don't pump gas on MAY 15th

In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.

On May 15th 2007, all internet users are to not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places.

There are 73,000,000 American members currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up.

If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companies pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and lets try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.

If you agree resend this to all your contact list. With it saying, ''Don't pump gas on May 15th"

Many readers of this e-mail, frustrated with the high cost of gasoline, will almost certainly think about avoiding gas pumps on May 15 in the hopes of sticking it to so-called Big Oil. Unfortunately, refraining from filling up on one designated day won’t affect oil companies. Consumers will only be hurting themselves.

There is an action angry motorists can take here in Wisconsin about ridiculous gas prices: fight Governor Doyle’s oil tax increase in his proposed state budget. His budget includes a new “assessment on oil companies.”

American linguist and Rutgers University English professor William Lutz would call that terminology, Doublespeak. Lutz is the author of The New Doublespeak, Why No One Knows What Anyone’s Saying Anymore. Lutz defines doublespeak as, “language that makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant appear attractive or least tolerable. Doublespeak is language that avoids or shifts responsibility, language that is at variance with its real or purported meaning.”

Governor Doyle uses doublespeak when he uses the phrase, "assessment on oil companies.” It’s a tax, but a tax that won’t be paid by oil companies. Those paying the freight will be motorists who will see the tax passed onto the price paid at the pump.

The non-partisan Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI) reports that the Governor’s tax will amount to a five-cent increase in our state’s gas tax, already one of the highest gas taxes in the country, and it will be paid directly by consumers. In its report entitled, The Truth Behind Wisconsin's Oil Company Tax: Why You'll Pay More at the Pump, the WPRI writes:

“The oil company gross receipts tax and its no-pass-through provision as proposed by Governor Doyle is the latest in a series of questionable fiscal maneuvers. But no one should be fooled; the proposal is a gas tax increase of five cents per gallon. The legislative consideration of the Governor's transportation budget must be based on this premise. Any thought of acquiescing to the Governor's proposed tax must be considered an endorsement of a five-cent per gallon increase in the tax on gasoline.”

The WPRI correctly comes to the conclusion that oil companies will do less business in Wisconsin and do more business in states that don’t have the tax Wisconsin would have. The result could be a damaging reduction in oil supplies to Wisconsin leading to fuel shortages, not to mention higher prices.

Here’s the complete WPRI study.

The Governor’s attempts to bar oil companies from passing on the increased cost to consumers by creating criminal penalties including jail time for oil company executives if their company passed the tax on would surely be fought in court. There’s not a guarantee the Governor’s punitive efforts against oil companies would meet Constitutional muster.

Instead of engaging in a futile one-day boycott of gasoline that will only make you feel good ever so temporarily, let your state Senator and state Representative know that you oppose Governor Doyle’s proposed oil tax increase in the state budget. You should also contact the Governor’s office and tell the Governor you oppose this gas tax increase by either calling (608) 266-1212 or e-mailing the Governor by using this form.

On Wednesday, the state Senate approved a bill that requires certain children to wear life preservers on certain boats. The vote was 22-11. I voted against the bill that now goes to the state Assembly.

This is one of those classic pieces of legislation that on the surface sounds wonderful. There’s an old saying in politics: the devil is the details.

Current Wisconsin law states that each boat must have on it a personal flotation device for each person riding in or on the boat. That certainly sounds reasonable and sufficient.

Senate Bill 16 moves Wisconsin another step toward becoming a nanny state. The bill mandates that a person may not operate a recreational boat that is less than 26 feet in length unless, during the time the boat is under way, every person on the boat who is 12 years old or younger is wearing a personal flotation device or is in a cabin space or below the deck.

This isn’t quite as extreme as the child safety seat law, but it does sound very much like a “booster seats for boats” bill. Every time the boat is in motion, every child on the boat must be wearing a life preserver.

Everyone cares about boat safety. Everyone cares about children. Legislation to mandate life preservers for children anytime a boat is under way is unnecessary. Parents or adults aboard can use the proper discretion. Government should not assume the role of parenting. Current law is appropriate and doesn’t need to be changed.

Today the state Senate took up and approved Senate Democrat priorities including a mandate that children wear life preservers whenever they’re on a boat, and a bill that prohibits citizens’ free speech 60 days prior to an election. One constituent referred to the bill as a gag order. Another constituent called it the Politician Protection Act.

Senate Democrats refused once again today to allow a vote to eliminate the sick leave perk for elected officials.

Governor Doyle has proposed a state budget that includes over $1.7-billion in tax and fee increases. Wisconsin is one of the highest-taxed states in the nation. Since the Governor unveiled his budget proposal, I have been very vocal in my opposition to all of the Governor’s tax and fee increases and continue to oppose his tax and spend budget.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) has begun a two-week statewide radio ad campaign asking Wisconsinites to contact their state legislators and ask them to oppose the Governor’s proposed budget.

You can hear the WMC radio ad here.

Governor Doyle’s proposed state budget is a litany of one tax increase after another. His budget includes adopting the provisions of the streamlined sales and use tax agreement for purposes of administering and collecting state, county, and stadium district sales and use taxes. Implementing the Streamlined Sales Tax would thrust yet another hefty tax increase on Wisconsinites.

Under current federal law, generally, an out-of-state retailer without a physical presence in Wisconsin selling tangible personal property or services to customers in Wisconsin is not required to collect the sales tax or use tax imposed on such sales. Merchants not physically located in Wisconsin can voluntarily agree to collect and remit the tax on their sales to Wisconsin residents. If a seller does not volunteer to collect the sales tax, the state imposes a use tax on purchases from the seller by Wisconsin residents.

It is much better to keep current Wisconsin law on sales and use taxes instead of the Governor’s plan to make it easier to collect sales taxes on mail-order and Internet sales. Maintaining the current law on sales taxes will save Wisconsin millions of dollars.

An ever-growing portion of U.S. retail sales is directly related to e-commerce. According to a June 2003 report prepared by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, “e-commerce, or business processes which shift transactions to the Internet, is growing at a rapid rate. The value of e-commerce transactions, while still small relative to the size of the U.S. economy, continues to show strong growth. More significant than the dollar amount of these transactions, however, are the new business processes e-commerce makes possible and the new business models it is generating. Many new Internet-based companies and traditional producers of goods and services are working to transform their business processes into e-commerce processes in an effort to lower costs, improve customer service, and increase productivity.”

Competition is a positive factor in the business world. Competition breeds productivity, creativity and innovation. Why would we want to discourage growth in e-commerce and stifle a growing economy by implementing a tax increase?

Governor Doyle promised Wisconsin a no-tax increase budget. Every time one looks further into the 1757-page state budget document, one finds even more surprises that would only serve to harm Wisconsin taxpayers and businesses. The Streamlined Sales Tax is a tax increase that needs to be eliminated from the state budget.

The state Senate Health Committee that I serve on will hold a public hearing Tuesday, May 15, 2007 on Senate Bill 30, a bill to allow breast-feeding in public.

I want to make sure that the public is clear about the details of this bill. This bill is not about the merits of breast-feeding. It is not about whether breast-feeding is healthy or unhealthy. This legislation specifically would allow breast-feeding in any public or private place.

The Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) provides this analysis of Senate Bill 30:

“This bill permits a mother to breast-feed her child in any public or private location where she is otherwise authorized to be.”

There’s more to this bill, including punishment for anyone attempting to, for whatever reason, interfere with a woman breast-feeding. However, the word interfere is not defined.

The LRB also writes in its analysis that Senate Bill 30, “prohibits any person from interfering with the right of a mother to breast−feed her child as provided in the bill. Because no penalty is expressed in the bill for interfering with that right, a person who interferes with that right is subject to a forfeiture not to exceed $200 under the general penalty provision under current law.”

The public needs to be aware of what exactly this bill entails.

Your property taxes are virtually guaranteed to increase under Governor Doyle’s proposed state budget. The Governor wants to allow local units of government to increase their 2008 property tax levies by four percent, or the percentage increase in new local construction, whichever is larger. The four percent figure is double the current cap on local government levies. If this provision is part of the state budget that is eventfully adopted, your property taxes will go up.

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee continues its review of the Governor’s budget proposal. On Thursday, Republicans tried to kill the Governor’s plan to allow local governments to increase their property tax levies. All eight Republican members voted to kill the measure, but all eight Democrats on the committee voted in favor, so the provision remains in the budget.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates the doubling of the property tax levy cap along with other changes the Governor wants to make will mean a property tax increase on a median valued home of 3.4 percent. So much for the promise Governor Doyle made to freeze property taxes.

The Committee also failed to kill the Governor’s plan to double the real estate fee, a fee paid by sellers of homes and other property. The fee would go from $3 to $6 per $1,000 of property sale price. There’s no need to double the fee, and the timing couldn’t be worse as the price for home sales has been dropping. State and local governments share the fee that is charged to home sellers.

Doubling the real estate fee is yet another example of what a tax and spend happy state Wisconsin has become. Efforts to kill the real estate fee increase along with the increase of the cap on property tax levies must continue.

Governor Doyle has signed a bill into law that allows free beer tasting samples during certain hours on certain retail premises.

You can read more details about the new law in a blog I wrote last month.

The Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance reports the average tax paid in Wisconsin in 2006 was $2,716. Wouldn’t you like to know where your tax dollars go and how they’re spent?

It’s time for Wisconsin to adopt a policy of transparency in government spending. Simply put, transparency in government spending is a concept that calls for the creation of websites that detail government spending in a clear manner that taxpayers can find easily and understand.

The inspiration for states like Wisconsin to develop user-friendly online databases of government spending for taxpayers to track comes from the federal government. President Bush signed the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act into law in September 2006. The bipartisan legislation requires all federal grant and contract funding data be included in a free, searchable website to be completed in 2009.

Of course, state and local governments also appropriate huge amounts of grants and contracts, not to mention a host of other expenditures. Some states have taken the federal lead and are passing or considering new laws to allow taxpayers to become watchdogs by tracking government spending on the Internet. They’ve even gone beyond the federal example by requiring the posting of more data, including grants, loans, labor contracts, financial assistance, agency and office appropriations, and expenditures made with government purchase cards.

Wisconsin needs to get involved in the Google-government trend, a movement that has tremendous benefits for taxpayers. A one-stop Internet clearinghouse would throw a laser beam on government spending, the increased focus having great potential for significant savings. Creating a system that’s easy to use and understand eliminates taxpayer frustration and reduces the perception of abuse.

It stands to reason that this concept could also be applied to school districts, counties, cities, and other units of local government. Imagine being able to go to one simple website to find out how your government is spending your money. Wisconsinites bear one of the heaviest tax burdens in the country and deserve to know where each dollar is going.

One of the leaders in this movement is from the state of Texas, Governor Rick Perry. Ultimately, I agree with Governor Perry who sums up the transparency in government concept this way: “If the taxpayers are picking up the bill, they ought to be able to look at every item on the receipt.”

Government transparency is just one of the innovative ideas states are considering to fight runaway taxes and spending. Several states have proposed a Tax Me More Fund. The fund is a direct counter to tax-and –spend advocates who always argue that they are not paying enough in taxes. The idea is that taxpayers would make voluntary contributions. The fact that 13 states have proposed the Tax Me More Fund, but none have approved it demonstrates the hypocrisy of those who support higher taxes.

Many states utilize ballot measures called initiatives and referenda. Initiatives are used when citizens collect signatures in order to place legislation on the ballot. Referenda are used by citizens to maintain the right to reject laws or amendments that the state legislature proposes.

North Carolina Americans for Tax Reform produced a series of Least Wanted posters depicting legislators supporting big tax hikes. Many states continue to explore constitutional limits on taxing and spending.

State governments have become creative labs for new and innovative means of tracking, evaluating, and curtailing wasteful spending. These intuitive and insightful projects are proof that citizens remain fiscal watchdogs and the taxpayer revolt is still alive and well.