{"id":5813,"date":"2012-04-16T23:12:40","date_gmt":"2012-04-17T03:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=5813"},"modified":"2012-04-16T23:14:19","modified_gmt":"2012-04-17T03:14:19","slug":"the-daily-gouge-tuesday-april-17th-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=5813","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge, Tuesday, April 17th, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Tuesday, April 17th, 2012….and here’s The Gouge!<\/strong><\/p>\n

First up, as the WSJ<\/em> reports, things are looking up in Badgerville for Governor Scott Walker:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Wisconsin Vindication<\/span><\/h1>\n

Property tax bills fall as Scott Walker’s reforms start to kick in.<\/span><\/h2>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The public employee unions and other liberals are confident that Wisconsin voters will turn out Governor Scott Walker in a recall election later this year, but not so fast. That may turn out to be as wrong as some of their other predictions as Badger State taxpayers start to see tangible benefits from Mr. Walker’s reforms\u2014such as the first decline in statewide property taxes in a dozen years.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On Monday Mr. Walker’s office released new data that show the property tax bill for the median home fell by 0.4% in 2011, as reported by Wisconsin’s municipalities. Property taxes, which are the state’s largest revenue source and mainly fund K-12 schools, have risen every year since 1998\u2014by 43% overall.<\/span> The state budget office estimates that the typical homeowner’s bill would be some $700 higher without Mr. Walker’s collective-bargaining overhaul and budget cuts<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The median home value did fall in 2011, by about 2.3%, which no doubt influenced the slight downward trend. But then values also fell in 2009 and 2010, by similar amounts, and the state’s take from the average taxpayer still climbed by 2.1% and 1.5%, respectively.<\/span><\/strong><\/span> In absolute terms homeowners won’t see large dollar benefits year over year, but any hold-the-line tax respite is both rare and welcome in this age of ever-expanding government.<\/p>\n

The real gains will grow as local school districts continue repairing and rationalizing their budgets using the tools Mr. Walker gave them. Those include the ability to renegotiate perk-filled teacher contracts and requiring government workers to contribute more than 0% to their pensions. A year ago amid their sit-ins and other protests, the unions said such policies would lead to the decline and fall of civilization, but the only things that are falling are tax collections.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The political lesson is that attempts to modernize government are always controversial, but support usually builds over time as the public comes to appreciate the benefits of structural change that tames the drivers of a status quo that includes ever-higher spending and taxes. The Wisconsin recall donnybrook in June will test whether voters value their own bottom lines more than the political power of unions.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Like any good Conservative, Walker deals in facts; like every prevaricating Progressive, his opponents deal in fraudulent, falsified feelings.\u00a0 For Wisconsin voters, the choice couldn’t be any clearer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a related item, as Guy Benson details in Townhall.com<\/em>, America’s the contrast between America’s options is equally evident:
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Geithner: Obama’s Economic Policies Have Been “Remarkably Successful,”\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Hey, it was only my personal income taxes; it’s not like I’d use position and privilege to cheat the taxpayers<\/span>!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It was not a fun go ’round on the Sunday morning talk circuit for Team Obama yesterday, underscored by David Axelrod’s accidental de facto<\/em> endorsement of Mitt Romney on Fox News. The White House likely nudged Hilary Rosen to decline a Meet the Press<\/em> invite in order to help turn the page from their floundering “war on women” narrative to a Buffett Rule hypefest. Treasury Secretary Tim Geither — last seen explaining how Obama has no solution to the gathering debt crisis<\/em> — informed NBC viewers that the president’s economic policies have been “remarkably successful<\/em><\/span>“:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n