We already ridiculed Scott Walker for his fundamental misunderstanding of complex mathematical concepts like percentages, and addition/subtraction, but James Warren of the New York Times adds:
As with family feuds, this ruckus has a history. It includes Mr. Quinn’s urging a Milwaukee train manufacturer to move to Illinois if Mr. Walker fulfills his promise to spurn $800 million in federal stimulus money and ditch a high-speed rail line linking Madison and Milwaukee.
The Illinois Senate president, John J. Cullerton, quickly obliged my request for relevant data. Even with the huge, “temporary” increases in Illinois, individuals and corporations are better off here than in Wisconsin — and in decent shape compared with Indiana, Missouri, Minnesota and Michigan, too.
According to the Tax Foundation, the Illinois personal rate of 5 percent compared with a sliding scale of 4.6 percent to 7.75 percent in Wisconsin, with anybody there earning $10,000 or above taxed at a minimum of 5 percent. The new Illinois corporate rate of 7 percent compares with Wisconsin’s 7.9 percent.
Mr. Walker doesn’t deny this but says he’ll get his rates down by 2015. Perhaps. But his rabble-rousing remains short on nuance.
As Chicago’s Metropolitan Planning Council underscored, taxes are important, but keeping an area competitive also involves quality of life, overall fiscal health, specific business incentives and intangibles like leadership. Quality of life includes the culture, restaurants and recreation that lure bright young people to Chicago.
(click to continue reading Wisconsin Sounds Off, but Misses the Point – NYTimes.com.)