Scott Manley: Gov. Tony Evers' 400-year veto is taxation without representation at its worst (2024)

The United States was founded in part because the King of England was imposing taxes on the colonies without the consent of the people. Indeed, opposition to “taxation without representation” is woven so deeply into the fabric of our country that voters ratified a constitution that gives taxing authority exclusively to elected legislators -- not to a king, not to a president and not to a governor.

Unfortunately, Gov. Tony Evers turned constitutional limitations against taxation without representation on their head when he unilaterally increased property taxes on Wisconsinites for the next 400years. In a move that would make King George III blush, Gov. Evers used his veto pen to impose billions of dollars in higher property taxes on Wisconsin homeowners and businesses over the next four centuries.

Because the veto allows school districts to automatically raise property taxes each year without approval from voters, the school portion of property tax bills across Wisconsin will skyrocket. Placing massive tax hikes on autopilot for 400 years, without a single vote of lawmakers to do so, is “taxation without representation” at its worst.

TheWisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce's litigation center is representing taxpayers challenging the governor’s unlawful veto in a recently filed lawsuit. It is important to uphold the rule of law and constitutional limitations against the abuse of executive power. If successful, the lawsuit will restore the voice of the people to determine how much they must pay for their government.

In addition to being unconstitutional, Evers' massive tax hike on Wisconsin families is coming when people can least afford it. Inflation, higher interest rates and three years of declining real wages have hit families hard. In fact, an analysis by Congress’ Joint Economic Committee found that Wisconsinites were paying $921 more per month in March for the same goods and services they purchased three years ago.

As most families struggle to find ways to make ends meet with less buying power, The governor decided to make their financial burden significantly higher. That he broke the law to do it, according to our legal analysis, makes it even worse.

How much more will families be forced to pay under the Evers tax hike? A lot more. If school districts take advantage of this new tax revenue, as most if not all will, the school portion of property tax bills will double in about 21 years. By that time, the average residential property owner will have paid an estimated $21,107 in additional taxes solely because of the governor’s veto.

The Evers tax hike will inflict real pain on Wisconsin homeowners who are already facing a crushing property tax burden. According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, our state has the eighth-highest property taxes in America as a percentage of home value. We are already paying significantly more than homeowners in most other states, but Evers decided he could single-handedly double school property taxes over the next two decades.

Adequately funding schools is important. But even without the governor’s lawless veto, Wisconsin spends about $17,000 per student in our K-12 school system each year. That’s significantly more than the current tuition of $11,216 to attend Wisconsin’s flagship university at UW-Madison this year.

At our current funding levels, taxpayers are investing about $220,000 in each student over the course of their K-12 career. It’s hard to argue this is an inadequate investment and that taxpayers must be further burdened with even higher property taxes, as Evers has done with his veto pen.

Rather than blindly raising property taxes for the next 400 years, perhaps taxpayers should be asking why only about half of school funding is spent on instruction in Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. The rest is spent on administrators, debt payments and other expenses. Is it possible that these spending priorities help explain why only about one-third of Wisconsin students are proficient in math and language arts?

Whatever one’s position is on school funding and spending priorities, Wisconsin law requires voters to have a say in how much their property taxes can increase to pay for schools. With his 400-year veto, Evers has robbed taxpayers of that voice. His unilateral imposition of higher taxes for centuries is an afront to the constitutional separation of powers and rule of law.

Former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall correctly opined that the power to tax involves the power to destroy. It’s why our Constitution vests this authority in elected representatives of the Legislature. The governor has stolen that “power to destroy” for himself, and if left unchecked, families struggling with inflation and higher interest rates will pay the price.