(reddit.com/r/collapse)   NOYCE !!

In 2009, the Wisconsin Legislature saw fit to pass legislation “Enabling” (making it legal to do so) organization of intergovernmental cooperation in the area of regional mass transit. These Regional Transit Authorities had many of the powers (including levying taxes) that municipalities and counties do.

Here’s a document that shows how the process was done, what the votes were to establish these authorities, and other details.

RTAs-enabling2009_08

Note that the “regions” which were created were limited to just these

Dane County Regional
Chippewa Valley (Eau Claire and Chippewa Counties) and
Chequamegon Bay (Ashland-Bayfield Counties)
See .doc file, (Act 28 2009, Section 1488)
RTAs-Act28of2009

The documents do not state whether additional RTAs would be enabled to be created, should government entities in other regions express interest and willingness to proceed.

Clearly, when we force the Legislature to re-enable Regional Transit Authorities, the Bills that are passed should state that there are no limits on the regional authorities that may be formed, so long as they are not overlapping, which would be an inefficient use of The People’s resources.

Ad for a manufacturer of trains that could be used in Wisconsin Regional Transit Authorities. Too bad we couldn’t have had such manufacturing
here in Wisconsin, eh?

In my humble opinion, no one in Wisconsin has done a better job exposing the corruption and “corporate welfare recipient” status of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) than State Senator Kathleen Vinehout. I’ll drop a few paragraphs of her classic essay on them in “Uppity Wisconsin” and you can click the link below to see the whole sordid story.

Just imagine what your local small start-up businesses struggling to get going, or your County, your School District, your Village, your Township, your City, could do with $472 million of wasted “economic development” money as you read. Senator Vinehout:

“TOTAL (through Aug. 1, 2016) $472.1 million
All of those award amounts are refundable tax credits. This means a company can claim the credit directly against taxes owed. If the company owes little or nothing in taxes and claims the credit, they can receive a payment from the state in the form of a refund.

Owing little or nothing in state taxes is made possible, in part, by changes in tax law for corporations that date back to 2011. Majority legislators passed the Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit that resulted in very low tax liability for some. A recent study released by the Wisconsin Budget Project found most of this credit goes to reducing taxes for millionaires, including “some tax filers with incomes of over $1 million receiving tax cuts of more than $100,000.”

Don’t ever let any Republican politician tell you that “We’re broke” in Wisconsin. Not when we have this kind of money to toss at corporations with no expectation of accountability for it.

TO SEE THE WHOLE LIST OF PERPETRATORS OF THIS MONEY GRAB, CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY