(The Center Square) – One of the Democrats running for Wisconsin governor says he wants a commission to take a look at new ways to raise state revenues.
“The way we are taxed in our state, in the state of Wisconsin, is antiquated. We put everything, all of our revenues, pretty much on the backs of all our property tax owners,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said on a local broadcast this past weekend. “So there are ways we can look at different ways in raising revenues for many of our local communities so they can invest in things that matter to them.”
Crowley said he is not looking to raise taxes. Rather, he said he wants a commission to look at the options. He wants Wisconsin less reliant on property taxes.
“There’s an opportunity to create a blue ribbon commission to get folks from all across this state to come to the table to tackle our tax code entirely,” Crowley said. “Whether we’re looking at property taxes, how the shared revenue formula works, how we’re funding our public schools, it’s not a one size fits all solution that’s going to be able to solve the issues in the state of Wisconsin.”
Crowley, in the broadcast, said he doesn’t have a new option that he favors.
Crowley touted his campaign for governor, saying he’s “the only candidate in this race that has both experience serving in the Legislature as well as actually running a government.”
Critics say he ran Milwaukee County into a $47 million deficit, and Crowley pushed for a sales tax for Milwaukee County that added nearly a half-a-cent to the price of many things sold in the county.
Crowley officially jumped into the race to replace Gov. Tony Evers last week.
