Big Tax Waukesha County

MAJOR UPDATE 10/22/2024

Less than an hour before the board meeting, County Executive Paul Farrow withdrew the sales tax ordinance from the meeting's agenda. It will certainly be back, but this is a small win.

Expect an intense marketing campaign from the county trying to convince you that raising taxes is the only way to solve the budget shortfall. But remember, the county also said that it was cruical for this ordinance to be passed right now, yet all it took was a few people speaking up to make them delay the vote.

Furthermore, recall that the proposal was for a .5% tax. You would expect the executive and board arrived at that number through vigorous debate and analysis of financial data. Afterall, Waukesha is a "conservative" county, and only the bare minimum taxes should be raised. Yet, after a few people spoke up, Executive Farrow acknowledged that maybe an amount less than .5% would be enough. Why not start there? It's because they wanted more.

To be clear - this budget shortfall should be solveable without raising taxes. The point is that the county almost got away with just doing what they want to do, but the people were able to get them to pause.

Local politicians often go along to get along, but they aren't all sellouts. You have a lot more power with county/municipal/school board members than you do with your US or even State Senator. Continue to pay attention to this and keep pressure on your supervisor.

You can make a difference.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.