No Wonder Wisconsin Is Broke!

by Dick Mac

Because the extreme, fringe right-wing is opposed to taxation in various forms, and believe that we are taxed too much (even though we are pretty much the lowest taxed citizens of the free world), one of their favorite tactics is gutting the IRS and state agencies charged with collecting taxes.

If tax-collecting agencies are gutted, then they can't get at the people who are delinquent on their taxes. Conveniently, the people most interested in this are the wealthiest of Americans, because they pay more taxes than the poorest.

The wealthy, represented by the Republican Party (which is the party of America's fringe right-wing), can pay less taxes simply by ignoring the laws and continuing to gut the tax code, and de-funds the agencies charged with enforcing it.

Let's take Wisconsin, for example.

The Wisconsin state government, like all state governments, has a long list of tax delinquents.

The top 100 Wisconsin tax delinquents owe the state $78,687,608.37!

Here is a state that is eliminating the lowest paid jobs in their government because they can't afford to have a government, and they allow 100 of their wealthiest citizens to evade seventy-eight million dollars in taxes. And that's just the top hundred! There are more!

I have an idea: instead of stripping the poorest citizens of their only form of income, perhaps we could collect the taxes due from those who aren't paying them.

Top 100 Delinquent Taxpayers