Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Return of Unhealthy Wisconsin

Mike Hahn over at Letters in Bottles explains why the return of Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker's "Healthy Wisconsin" proposal is such a terrible idea:
It is irresponsible to even consider this type of massive government expansion when it is not at all clear how we will balance the budget even without any increase in spending at all. Then throw in the fact that businesses all over the state are having problems meeting expenses and many are cutting their current workforce and Healthy Wisconsin will have the effect of trying to put out a fire with gasoline.

Healthy Wisconsin will cost a minimum of $15 billion to implement. The taxes will be collected just like social security is now. At least 4% will be taken out of your paycheck and your employer will pay an additional 10.5% of what you make. That is a huge increase in taxes for everyone in the state. How many people are going to lose their jobs so that a business owner can pay the new taxes? How many businesses will leave Wisconsin or close their doors forever?

Given how Decker's colleagues ran away from Healthy Wisconsin during the last election cycle, bringing it back must be enough to drive some of them to drink.