David Cullen (D-Milwaukee) plans to introduce legislation that would lower the state gas tax by 0.05 per gallon for the summer.
This seems unwise…

The Economist provides several useful tax simplification pointers. I wonder if I’ll live to see the day that we have a rational, sensible tax system…

The United States, which last simplified its tax code in 1986, and which spent the next two decades feverishly unsimplifying it, may soon be coming to a point of renewed fiscal catharsis. Other rich countries, with a tolerance for tax-code sclerosis even greater than America’s, may not be so far behind. Revenue must be raised, of course. But is there no realistic alternative to tax codes which, as they discharge that sad but necessary function, squander resources on an epic scale and grind the spirit of the helpless taxpayer as well?

more here

From Taxprof.

Avrum Lank takes a look at the AMT – extensively discussed here:

“It’s just another example of smoke and mirrors,” said Paul S. Wickert, owner of Acc-U-Rite Tax & Financial Services Inc., a tax preparation firm on Milwaukee’s south side. “They show you a 20 percent rate with one hand while their other hand is in your back pocket” grabbing more. The AMT tax rate varies from 26% to 28% of earned income, while regular tax brackets go from 10% to 35%.

The impact is especially great for large, middle-class families in states with high income and property taxes, such as Wisconsin. The AMT disallows deductions for local taxes, and does not take into account all of the personal exemptions allowed under the regular tax law.

Peter Whoriskey:

“What is all the money going for?” the 60-year-old translator wondered last week. “I’m not seeing it in better services. Homeowners are becoming cash cows.”

The spectacular boom in Washington area real estate prices over the last five years has been accompanied by staggering increases in home tax bills as many local governments have spurned significant tax cuts in favor of reaping billions more from homeowners.

Judging by the number of “Madison Property Taxes” inbound searches recently, this is a topic on many local homeowner’s minds.

Edmund Andrews:

CYNICS have long predicted that the Bush administration, plagued by budget deficits, will eventually start raising taxes. But now it is becoming clear how it would do so: the alternative minimum tax.
Baffling in its complexity and often bizarre in its impact, the alternative minimum tax is a giant undeclared tax increase that will ensnare tens of millions of moderate-income families in the next several years.

Useful links & commentary on the state budget “process”….

“$310 million – we could buy a boat for everyone in the state to get across the river.?
— JFC Co-Chair Scott Fitzgerald on the cost of the proposed Stillwater Bridge spanning the St. Croix River between Wisconsin and Minnesota in northwest Wisconsin.
?This is a very technical Web site. This is not just Mapquest.?
— DOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi defending the cost of a $650,000 interactive site for the Marquette Interchange.