Milwaukee, WI – After contested town halls, the Milwaukee Common Council has voted in favor of increasing the city’s sales tax by 2%. The vote was 12-3. As mandated by Wisconsin Act 12 (the Shared Revenue Bill), the revenue generated by this 2% sales tax increase can only be used to pay for the city’s pension obligations to the fire and police departments.

The entire situation around this 2% sales tax increase was marred by fear-mongering tactics. City officials tried to hide their betrayal of working people in Milwaukee behind threats of city bankruptcy. In the town hall hosted the night before the vote, elected officials presented this 2% sales tax increase as the only measure that would “keep Milwaukee from becoming the next Detroit.”

When Eric Flores of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR) asked, “How exactly would the sales tax increase improve the public services that Detroit lost?” A city official simply stated it would keep Milwaukee from jumping over the fiscal cliff.

“We must understand how this sales tax came about. It has been forced on us by state officials who don’t live in our city,” said Alan Chavoya, the outreach chair for the Milwaukee Alliance. “And where were city officials in May when their plan became official? Why weren’t you holding town halls then?”

The 2% sales tax increase is an attack on the people of Milwaukee who only had the opportunity to voice concerns in town halls held less than a week before the vote. The winners now are the big businesses in Milwaukee who dodge paying sales tax, and the fire and police departments. By law, no other parts of city government can benefit from the 2% increase.

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