Senator Rich Zipperer's E-Update

Revenue Reform Bill Advocates for Taxpayers

Revenue Reform Bill – The Department of Revenue will become much more taxpayer-friendly under a bill I authored that passed the Senate today.  The "Revenue Reform Bill" will increase the consistency and efficiency of how our tax laws are enforced. 

In 2006, Wisconsin businesses and individuals were surveyed and reported that that the Department's arbitrary bureaucratic rulings cost money and jobs.  A common concern from taxpayers is that they often receive inconsistent verbal advice. The Department's failure to provide reliable guidance has caused many businesses to hire accounting firms or law firms to provide advice.  This comes at a significant cost to the business and at considerable harm to their ability to compete in the global marketplace.

This bill seeks to provide fairness, justice, and impartiality for business and individual taxpayers  by requiring the Dept. of Revenue to follow the advice and guidance they provided.  In short, the Department needs to keep its word so that taxpayers can rely on what the Department itself says. Our state’s tax system is complex and taxpayers should have a resource in the Department not an adversary.  Allowing taxpayers to rely on their advice can help make that a reality. 

The goal of this bill is to restore trust and confidence in Wisconsin’s tax collection system. Taxpayers and businesses need to know that tax laws will be enforced consistently and efficiently, and this bill is a major step forward in that direction.

Venue Bill Ends Dane County Monopoly

Venue Bill - It's no secret that the Dane County court system has become synonymous for judicial activism.  While ordinarily this would not cause much of a problem for people living outside of Dane County, an anomaly in state law currently forces issues of statewide impact to be heard in Dane County and no where else in the state.  It makes no sense that a person who lives hours away from Madison would be forced to travel to Dane County to file a court case when they could just as easily use their own local courts.  And it makes no sense for the voters of Dane County to be able to elect judges who rule on these cases while voters in every other county are denied this right. 

A bill passed by the state Senate this week will remove this monopoly by allowing plaintiffs to file a case in any county in the State.  Senate Bill 117 allows individuals and businesses to choose a location that is convenient to them with locally elected judges instead of having to file the suit in Dane County.  What this bill does is open up access to the courts to people across the whole state.  Judges elected by people across the state should have the same authority to hear cases as Dane County judges. 

Dane County may be the seat of state government, but it does not mean that all legal proceedings against the state have to occur in Dane County. 

The bill was approved this week in the Senate.  It still needs to be approved by the Assembly and signed into law by the Governor. 

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