The list of businesses fleeing Wisconsin for states with more favorable business climates is long and growing. Last week's news was dominated with stories of Mercury Marine's move to Stillwater, Okla. Another long-standing company, Parker Pen, announced recently that it will be closing its Janesville facility. The company has been in Wisconsin since 1888 and once employed more than 1,000 workers.The last 153 jobs at the company will disappear early next year, with the work primarily going to Illinois and Mexico.
Unfortunately, Parker Pen and Mercury Marine are not the last Wisconsin employers that we will see leaving our state. Harley Davidson also announced recently that it is looking at expanding, but not in its home state of Wisconsin. The states under consideration are Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.
This mass exodus from Wisconsin is not only attributable to the worst recession we've seen in decades, but also is connected in large part to Governor Doyle, his inept Department of Commerce, and legislative Democrats making Wisconsin's already bad business climate even worse. Billions of dollars in new taxes proposed by the governor and approved by the Democrat-controlled Legislature have made Wisconsin unappealing to both new and existing businesses and worsened our state's already poor business climate. Their anti-jobs agenda has sent a clear message to Wisconsin employers that our state is more focused on creating new revenue streams rather than keeping and creating jobs to grow our economy.
According to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, Wisconsin is the 11th highest taxed state in the nation, but Doyle and the legislative Democrats are sliding Wisconsin firmly into the top six.
"Between the two-year budget enacted last month and the deficit-closing budget repair bill that passed in February, Wisconsin has added significantly to its taxes and fees," said Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance President Todd Berry in the July 14th edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "(We) might move up three to five places, so something in the six-seven-eight range."
One of the most damaging proposals included in the anti-jobs package is combined reporting, a $1.2 billion tax increase targeted at Wisconsin employers. Wisconsin Democrats passed the measure and signed it into law within 72 hours without any public input. The fall-out already is starting to occur from this proposal.
Harley Davidson, a longtime Wisconsin employer, stated that the new law would cost it at least $22.5 million. Of the states that Harley is considering for its new assembly plant, none have combined reporting. Briggs & Stratton Corp. will suffer a $4.5 million hit due to combined reporting. After the new law was approved, the company announced it was closing its Jefferson facility and eliminating 530 jobs by 2010. The company is moving jobs to Georgia and Alabama, states without combined reporting.
It's no wonder these companies are choosing to move these jobs to more business-friendly states. At a time when businesses are having a hard time keeping their workers due to a slowing economy, it goes against common sense to make it more expensive to conduct business. As we already are seeing, it will result in more layoffs, which will add to our already high number of unemployed workers.
In March and April 2009, Wisconsin ranked among the top five states in the nation in terms of mass layoffs, despite being a low-population state. The Department of Workforce Development's latest unemployment numbers released this week highlighted the level of job losses in Wisconsin. From January through August 15, 2009, initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits in Wisconsin exceeded the total for all of 2008.
The Wisconsin Manufacturers Register, published annually by Manufacturers' News, reported that Wisconsin lost 31,296 industrial jobs between June 2008 and June 2009, for a record-breaking overall drop of 5 percent when 413 manufacturing companies were lost that period. This is the sharpest decline recorded in the past 25 years.
We cannot continue to bleed jobs out of our state. Instead, we need to focus on ways to stimulate our economy and grow jobs. The anti-jobs climate that the Wisconsin Democrats have enacted in Wisconsin must be changed. Otherwise, we will continue to lose employers and hemorrhage jobs to other states.
If you have comments, questions or would like more information, please call me at (608) 266-5660, write to me at P.O. Box 7882, Madison, WI 53707-7882, or visit my Web site: www.senatorfitzgerald.com
- Sen. Scott Fitzgerald,
R-Juneau, is the Senate Republican leader.
Unfortunately, Parker Pen and Mercury Marine are not the last Wisconsin employers that we will see leaving our state. Harley Davidson also announced recently that it is looking at expanding, but not in its home state of Wisconsin. The states under consideration are Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.
This mass exodus from Wisconsin is not only attributable to the worst recession we've seen in decades, but also is connected in large part to Governor Doyle, his inept Department of Commerce, and legislative Democrats making Wisconsin's already bad business climate even worse. Billions of dollars in new taxes proposed by the governor and approved by the Democrat-controlled Legislature have made Wisconsin unappealing to both new and existing businesses and worsened our state's already poor business climate. Their anti-jobs agenda has sent a clear message to Wisconsin employers that our state is more focused on creating new revenue streams rather than keeping and creating jobs to grow our economy.
According to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, Wisconsin is the 11th highest taxed state in the nation, but Doyle and the legislative Democrats are sliding Wisconsin firmly into the top six.
"Between the two-year budget enacted last month and the deficit-closing budget repair bill that passed in February, Wisconsin has added significantly to its taxes and fees," said Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance President Todd Berry in the July 14th edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "(We) might move up three to five places, so something in the six-seven-eight range."
One of the most damaging proposals included in the anti-jobs package is combined reporting, a $1.2 billion tax increase targeted at Wisconsin employers. Wisconsin Democrats passed the measure and signed it into law within 72 hours without any public input. The fall-out already is starting to occur from this proposal.
Harley Davidson, a longtime Wisconsin employer, stated that the new law would cost it at least $22.5 million. Of the states that Harley is considering for its new assembly plant, none have combined reporting. Briggs & Stratton Corp. will suffer a $4.5 million hit due to combined reporting. After the new law was approved, the company announced it was closing its Jefferson facility and eliminating 530 jobs by 2010. The company is moving jobs to Georgia and Alabama, states without combined reporting.
It's no wonder these companies are choosing to move these jobs to more business-friendly states. At a time when businesses are having a hard time keeping their workers due to a slowing economy, it goes against common sense to make it more expensive to conduct business. As we already are seeing, it will result in more layoffs, which will add to our already high number of unemployed workers.
In March and April 2009, Wisconsin ranked among the top five states in the nation in terms of mass layoffs, despite being a low-population state. The Department of Workforce Development's latest unemployment numbers released this week highlighted the level of job losses in Wisconsin. From January through August 15, 2009, initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits in Wisconsin exceeded the total for all of 2008.
The Wisconsin Manufacturers Register, published annually by Manufacturers' News, reported that Wisconsin lost 31,296 industrial jobs between June 2008 and June 2009, for a record-breaking overall drop of 5 percent when 413 manufacturing companies were lost that period. This is the sharpest decline recorded in the past 25 years.
We cannot continue to bleed jobs out of our state. Instead, we need to focus on ways to stimulate our economy and grow jobs. The anti-jobs climate that the Wisconsin Democrats have enacted in Wisconsin must be changed. Otherwise, we will continue to lose employers and hemorrhage jobs to other states.
If you have comments, questions or would like more information, please call me at (608) 266-5660, write to me at P.O. Box 7882, Madison, WI 53707-7882, or visit my Web site: www.senatorfitzgerald.com
- Sen. Scott Fitzgerald,
R-Juneau, is the Senate Republican leader.
