Monthly Archives: February, 2022

(The Center Square) – The latest tax map in the United States might add to the debate over whether Wisconsin should end or reduce its personal income tax.

The Tax Foundation's new report looks at income tax rates across the country, and Wisconsin comes in as one of the most taxed states in the Midwest.

The Tax Foundation notes that Wisconsin’s 7.65% tax rate is third highest in the Midwest, behind Minnesota and Iowa; and it's the third highest among all Great Lakes states. Only New York and Minnesota are higher on that list.

Among our neighbors, both Illinois and Michigan have lower income tax rates than Wisconsin.

“I think a lot of Wisconsinites would be surprised to learn that Illinois of all places has a flat and much lower income tax rate. If Wisconsin wants to attract businesses and residents from high-tax Minnesota and highly regulated Illinois, policymakers should start by dramatically lessening our tax burden,” The Badger Institute’s Michael Jahr told The Center Square.

The report comes as Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol push toward lowering and eventually eliminating Wiscosin’s personal income tax.

Jahr said the Badger Institute has worked with the Tax Foundation on a range of tax reform options that would make Wisconsin more competitive.

“A fair and pro-growth tax structure, combined with Wisconsin’s overall fiscal health, would make the Badger State an even more inviting place to do business. Whether it’s through flattening, eliminating or better balancing our various taxes, the need for reform is pressing,” Jahr said. “People factor in things like taxes when deciding where to live or locate a business. States without an income tax clearly have an advantage as evidenced by the population and business growth they’ve experienced in recent years.”

There are seven states without a state income tax, and another 11 that have flat income taxes. Wisconsin is not on either list.

The Tax Foundation’s report states that income taxes make-up a sizable chunk of state revenues across the country, accounting for about 36% of all monies that states take-in. In Wisconsin, that number is closer to 50%.

(The Center Square) – Wolf hunting in Wisconsin is doubtful this year after a federal judge in California said gray wolves need to be protected once again.

Federal District Judge Jeffrey White from the Northern District of California on Thursday ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to look at the full population of wolves in parts of the west and the upper Midwest when the agency removed endangered species protections for the wolves back in 2021.

“The Service’s analysis relied on two core wolf populations to delist wolves nationally and failed to provide a reasonable interpretation of the ‘significant portion of its range’ standard,” White wrote.

The ruling halts wolf hunting across the country, except for parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

Hunter Nation, one of the groups in Wisconsin that pressed for a return to wolf hunting, said in a statement Thursday that the judge is turning his back on “common-sense predator management.”

The group-issued statement continued: “We are disappointed that an activist judge from California decided to tell farmers, ranchers, and anyone who supports a balanced ecosystem that he knows better than them,” Hunter Nation President and CEO Luke Hilgemann said. “We prefer to trust local experts and conservation and hunting partners to come up with predator management programs that make sense for them rather than putting our faith in bureaucrats who don’t spend time in the woods or never have to deal with the negative consequences of an uncontrolled wolf population.”

Hunter Nation says it looks forward to an appeal from the Biden Administration.

Wisconsin’s wolf hunt has been controversial since it began again in January of 2021.

The Evers Administration initially fought a return to hunting, but relented only after a judge ordered a hunt in February of last year. Hunters took 218 wolves in just three days. That was far more than environmentalists and the state’s Department of Natural Resources had wanted.

Thursday’s ruling is the fourth time since 2003 that Wisconsin’s wolf hunt has been frozen by the federal government or a federal judge.

Wisconsin has had a hunting season for just three years in the last decade, from 2012 until 2014, and again from January of 2021 until this week.

(The Center Square) – U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and John Kennedy, R-La., introduced new legislation Thursday that would block American Rescue Plan taxpayer dollars from being used to purchase and distribute crack pipes.

The Cutting Rampant Access to Crack Kits (CRACK) Act of 2022 comes after the Washington Free Beacon reported federal taxpayer dollars had gone to a program that provides syringes and pipes to drug users as a form of “harm reduction."

“The Biden administration wants to spend millions of dollars helping drug users smoke crack and meth, but there is no safe way to smoke these dangerous drugs,” Kennedy said. “Sooner or later, these drugs kill people. Why wouldn’t the president spend this money to help people get off crack and meth or to stop these drugs from crossing the border into our country in the first place?"

The three-year, $30 million harm reduction grant program in question was funded through President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill passed by Democrats in March of last year. The grant includes, among other things, syringes and “safe smoking kits/supplies” as an approved use of federal funds. The Washington Free Beacon reported that a Health and Human Services official told them the smoking kits include pipes.

“I’m grateful to partner with Sen. Rubio to make sure taxpayer dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act don’t end up funding crack pipes,” Kennedy added.

After the story broke, the Department of Health and Human Services released a statement saying crack pipes would not be included in the program. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has disputed the crack pipe story, saying pipes were never part of the program.

Critics argue that pipes are often included in smoking kits and say the administration has shifted its stance after the pushback. They also point out groups and local governments have distributed pipes in the past as part of smoking kits.

One group, the National Drug Policy Alliance, released a statement disapproving of the administration’s decision to “remove” pipes as an approved use.

“Harm reduction works to meet people where they are at, and keep people free of diseases and alive so they have a chance of recovery and healing,” NDPA wrote on Twitter. “That’s why [HHS] and [the White House Office of National Drug Control’s] decision today to remove pipes from safe smoking equipment is deeply disappointing. This is a missed opportunity to be preventative of more deaths due to overdose. Giving clean drug-using equipment such as a pipe [and] syringe reduces transmission of disease including Hep. C [and] HIV. When this is done in a supportive setting, we can link people who use drugs chaotically to other services including treatment, doctors, [and] getting access to naloxone.

“​​Giving clean drug-using equipment such as a pipe [and] syringe reduces transmission of disease including Hep. C [and] HIV,” the group added.

(The Center Square) – Nearly 12% of police officers were assaulted while on duty in 2020, according to annual state level data collected by the FBI. Alaska reported the greatest percentage, California the greatest number.

A total of 60,105 officers were assaulted nationwide, with the overwhelming majority assaulted, and injured, by assailants’ hands and feet.

Nationwide, 26% of assaults in 2020 involved a deadly weapon that wasn’t a firearm; 5% involved a firearm.

California and Texas had the greatest number of officers shot in 2020: 379 and 300, respectively – less than half of one percent of their entire force.

The report was based on the most recently available data from 2020 on 505,212 officers, or 72.5% of all police officers nationwide.

Not every law enforcement agency reported assault data to the FBI; nine states with limited statistical data were excluded from the report.

The two largest states, Alaska (by area) and California (by population) reported the greatest percentage and number of assaults, respectively. Nearly two-thirds of Alaska’s officers, 813 out of 1,259, 64.6%, were assaulted, according to the data. While California reported a far lower percentage of its officers being assaulted – 16.2% compared to Alaska’s – far more California officers were assaulted, 11,599 out of a total force of 71,668.

After Alaska, the greatest percentage of officers assaulted were in Montana, 34.2%, South Dakota, 32.9%, the District of Columbia, 28.2%, and Arizona, 27.5%.

West Virginia is the only state that reported zero percent. Michigan had the next lowest percentage of 0.8%, followed by Ohio (3.2%), New Jersey (4.2%), Louisiana (4.8%) and Arkansas (7.1%).

“If you break the assaults down by region, the West had the highest rate in the country at 18%,” Christian Worstell, author of a new HelpAdvisor study that analyzed the FBI data, said.

However, the states with the largest populations, California, Texas and Florida, which have the most police officers, also reported the greatest number assaulted.

Florida had the second-greatest number of law enforcement officers assaulted while on the job of 5,711. Of a total force of 41,898 in 2020, those assaulted account for 13.6% of total officers.

Texas had the third-greatest number – 5,359 out of 50,845, or 10.5%.

Assault data pertains to weapons used by offenders that could have caused injury or death of an officer.

The majority of officers were assaulted by assailants’ hands or feet, 73.9%, meaning they were likely hit, punched or kicked. Roughly one-quarter of these assaults resulted in injury.

The next greatest percentage, 19.6%, were assaulted with a dangerous weapon that wasn’t a firearm.

About 4.6% were assaulted with a firearm; and about 2% with a knife or other cutting instrument.

“Officers assigned to one-deputy patrol vehicles are at the greatest risk of an assault,” HelpAdvisor notes. Nearly two-thirds of those assaulted, 63.4%, were assigned to a one-deputy patrol car at the time of their assault.

The next greatest percentage of those injured while assaulted, 16.8%, were assigned to other duties, followed by those assigned to a two-deputy patrol vehicle, 16.2%, and those performing detective duties or special assignments, 3.6%.

The majority of officers assaulted weren’t injured, but 31% were. Among them, 25.8% were injured by assailants’ hands and feet; 16.8% by a dangerous weapon other than a firearm, 9.7% by a knife or cutting instrument, and 6.1% by a firearm.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program collects data monthly about assaults on duly sworn federal, state, local, tribal, university and college, and county law enforcement officers. Information is submitted by respective agencies through their state programs or directly to the FBI.

The 2020 data was provided by 9,895 law enforcement agencies whose officers serve more than 235.5 million people, or 71.5% of the population.

(The Center Square) – A movement of truckers protesting vaccine mandates in Canada has garnered international attention and now is spreading to the U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin to local law enforcement this week, telling them protests from truck drivers could disrupt the Super Bowl this Sunday and President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on March 1.

The “Freedom Convoy” began in Canada after the nation last month implemented a vaccine mandate to cross the U.S.-Canada border, a trip truckers make regularly. The DHS memo was first reported by Yahoo News.

DHS told law enforcement officials the agency has “received reports of truck drivers potentially planning to block roads in major metropolitan cities in the United States in protest of, among other things, vaccine mandates. The convoy will potentially begin in California early as mid-February, potentially impacting the Super Bowl scheduled for 13 February and the State of the Union address scheduled for 1 March.”

Meanwhile, the “Freedom Convoy” has continued to pressure politicians along the U.S.-Canada border. Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on Canadian authorities “to quickly resolve the ongoing Ambassador Bridge closure,” which has been blocked by the truckers and connects Ottawa to Detroit.

“It is imperative that Canadian local, provincial, and national governments de-escalate this economic blockade,” Whitmer said in a statement. “They must take all necessary and appropriate steps to immediately and safely reopen traffic so we can continue growing our economy, supporting good-paying jobs, and lowering costs for families.”

The Freedom Convoy gained more attention with an online fundraiser through the site, GoFundMe, which raised more than $10 million. GoFundMe, though, sparked backlash when they said the funds would be redirected to another charity because of controversy surrounding the trucking movement.

That announcement drew criticism and threats of legal inquiry from attorneys general in both Florida and Texas.

Soon, GoFundMe changed their decision, announcing they would refund all donations. GoFundMe claimed the protest had become violent, though media in Ottawa reported few violent incidents.

"GoFundMe supports peaceful protests and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created,” the company said. “We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday his office will investigate the online fundraising company over the incident and demanded a litany of documents from the company by the end of the month.

“The Office of the Attorney General is investigating the past and present practices of GoFundMe Inc,” the AG office said in a letter to GoFundMe. “The general subject matter of the investigation is to determine whether this entity is engaging in practices that may violate the Deceptive Trade Practices Act…”

(The Center Square) – Three out of four Americans say defunding police departments has contributed to the rise in violent crime across the country, according to a new poll.

A Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday found that 75% of surveyed Americans say that “the defunding of police departments” is “a reason that violent crime is increasing in the United States.” The survey reports that 49% said defunding police was a “major reason” for the rise in violent crime while 26% said it was a “minor reason.” Only 25% said it was “not a reason” for the spike in violent crime.

Experts have echoed the point that the defund movement leads to more violent crime, saying police officers fear a lack of support from their departments if they are involved in a fatal shooting. This leads to them avoiding more dangerous neighborhoods altogether.

The poll also found that two thirds of those surveyed believe increasing funding police would reduce crime, a key data point as lawmakers and local officials grapple with the rising violent crime rates alongside calls to “defund the police.”

The poll asked respondents whether increasing funding for police departments ​​”would decrease the rate of violent crime in the United States.” Only 22% of those surveyed said it would not while the majority said it would. The poll found 36% said it would decrease crime “a lot” while 33% said more police funding would decrease crime “some.”

President Joe Biden has distanced himself from calls to defund police, a movement that took off in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. Biden called for hiring more police officers in June of last year to help address the rising violent crime wave, which has hit new highs in cities around the country.

Biden reiterated that commitment during a visit to New York City last week, where two law enforcement officers were recently killed in Harlem.

“The answer is not to defund the police,” Biden said.

That sentiment, though, has not been echoed by all of Biden’s party. U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., rebuffed Biden’s comments.

“My colleagues keep telling us to wait,” Bush said after Biden’s comments. “They keep telling us defunding the police and investing in communities won’t work. Well, their policies keep ending up with police murdering Black people. Enough patronizing. Listen to the movements that are telling you how to save lives.”

Bush told Axios Tuesday she would not back down from the defund police message.

"I always tell [fellow Democrats], 'If you all had fixed this before I got here, I wouldn’t have to say these things,'" she said.

Republicans have blasted Democrats for the defund message, pointing to the crime wave and advocating for bolstering police departments to address it.

“The Biden Administration is trying to blame rising crime on everything except the true causes,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., who pointed to the defunding push, immigration policy, and other issues. “[Democratic] policies that are enabling criminals and hurting police."

(The Center Square) – Reports of a new Biden administration grant program has drawn widespread criticism for its efforts to reduce the spread of disease by providing crack pipes at taxpayer expense.

The application window for the $30 million “harm reduction” program grant closed Monday. The three-year grant program was funded through President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill pushed through by Democrats in March of last year. It specifically outlines syringes and “safe smoking kits/supplies” as an approved use of federal funds.

“The purpose of the program is to support community-based overdose prevention programs, syringe services programs, and other harm reduction services,” the grant said. “Funding will be used to enhance overdose and other types of prevention activities to help control the spread of infectious diseases and the consequences of such diseases for individuals with, or at risk of developing substance use disorders (SUD)...”

A spokesman from the Department of Health and Human Services told the Washington Free Beacon, which first reported the story, that the kits in question will include smoking “any illicit substance” such as crystal methamphetamine or crack cocaine.

Some cities have experimented with distributing smoking kits, but federal distribution of the illicit smoking devices are a new, and controversial, step.

The program is designed to prevent the spread of certain diseases when users share crack pipes, especially when those pipes are cracked are broken.

“Smoking crack can lead to open sores, burns or cuts on the lips, which can transfer blood to a crack pipe,” said the North Carolina Hard Reduction Coalition. “If the pipe is shared, even a speck of infected blood can transmit hepatitis C. People who smoke crack, like everyone else, like to have sex. When you smoke crack it often decreases your inhibitions, and deceases condom negotiation skills, which can increase exposure to HIV, STIs and Hepatitis.”

The grant also says its work aligns with “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.”

Republicans pushed back hard on the program, calling it a misuse of taxpayer funds.

“Biden is sending free meth and crack pipes to minority communities in the name of ‘racial equity,’” U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said. “There is no end in sight for this lunacy.”

Other critics argued it flew in the face of Biden’s recent pledge to be more strict on the rise of crime nationwide.

“Last week, Biden talked about being tough on crime,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. “This week, the Biden Admin announced funds for crack pipe distribution to ‘advance racial equity.’”

The grant also allows federal funds to be use to purchase “safe sex kits, including PrEP resources and condoms.”

The plan was mocked online.

“I never in my life thought I would have to say this, but the proper role of government is not to fund the distribution of crack pipes,” U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., wrote on Twitter.

(The Center Square) – A county government in southeast Michigan is moving forward with plans to build a sports complex with federal COVID-19 relief money that could cost up to $80 million. Some residents are pushing back.

A rural county in Utah spent $321,000 in federal COVID-19 relief money to get snow to the Buckskin Hills Ski and Snow Tubing Hill. An auditor's report later flagged some of the spending.

In Tennessee, Shelby County Schools spent $25 million on air purifiers from Global Plasma Solutions, but a lawsuit maintains the purifiers are ineffective.

These are just a few of the examples of how local governments spent billions of dollars in federal taxpayer money provided by Congress to stem the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adam Andrzejewski, founder and CEO of government watchdog OpenTheBooks.com, said the amount of federal money has municipalities struggling to spend it.

"When Congress throws so much money at the cities that they don't even know how to spend it, we have a problem," Andrzejewski told The Center Square.

Local governments across the country that are flush with federal tax dollars in the wake of pandemic relief are considering a wide range of projects, some of which could saddle taxpayers with operational costs for years to come and others that have raised concerns about community priorities.

Lenawee County in southeast Michigan is moving forward with plans to build a sports complex that could cost up to $80 million. Dubbed Project Phoenix, local leaders hope the project will help bring in out-of-town travel sports teams and boost the local economy with money and jobs. But a consultant's report lists a number of challenges for the Lenawee County project, including the possibility that the facility will operate at a financial loss each year if it doesn't secure enough commercial tenants. The report also noted the proposed facility could face "strong competition" from existing sports facilities in the region and benefits could be capped by the limited number of hotels in the area. The report further noted that "several peer facilities operate at a deficit" and "facilities of this type are often built for the economic impacts they can generate to the surrounding area."

Lenawee County officials estimate the facility will create 200 jobs and generate $15.2 million in total economic activity in the area, based on the report from Crossroads Consulting. Crossroads Consulting noted the report "does not account for potential short- or long-term implications resulting from COVID-19." The pandemic has hit the travel and tourism industries especially hard.

Kevon Martis, the zoning administrator in Deerfield Township who spoke about the project as a county resident, raised concerns about the project and its location.

"My No. 1 concern was how did this make it to the top of the county's priority list?" he said. "It's not in the middle of the county and the cost is twice the annual budget for the county government."

Lenawee County Administrator Martin Marshall didn't respond to multiple requests from The Center Square to discuss the project. Deputy Administrator Kim Murphy also didn't respond to a request for an interview. Lenawee County Board Chairman David Stimpson also did not respond to a request for comment.

Other projects across the country got funding in the race to meet federal spending deadlines.

Uintah County, in Utah, spent $321,000 in federal COVID-19 relief money to get snow to the Buckskin Hills Ski and Snow Tubing Hill. An auditor's report later flagged some of the spending. The report found the county bought six snow guns and associated parts for the Buckskin Hills Ski & Snow Tubing Hill, totaling $146,862, including $3,000 in shipping costs. Each individual snow gun cost $19,999, just below the county's $20,000 threshold for a sealed bidding process. While all five snow guns were purchased at once, the county split the invoice up to stay below the bidding threshold.

"The County circumvented established purchasing policy by splitting an invoice, ignoring open bid requirements, awarding contracts outside public meetings, and later retroactively modifying its purchasing policy," according to the independent audit. "At the time, the County purchasing policy required that purchases exceeding $20,000 go through a sealed bidding process and be awarded in a public meeting."

In Tennessee, Shelby County Schools spent $25 million on air purifiers from Global Plasma Solutions. A lawsuit has been filed over the effectiveness of the purifiers, but Shelby County spent $1 million on installation even after the Maryland and Delaware lawsuits.

In some cases, questions about local COVID-19 spending have led to federal criminal charges.

U.S. prosecutors charged Michael DiMassa, 30, of West Haven, Connecticut, with defrauding the city of West Haven of more than $600,000. Prosecutors said DiMassa, a city employee and state lawmaker at the time, created a company called Compass Investment Group that fraudulently billed the city of West Haven and its “COVID-19 Grant Department” for consulting services purportedly that were not performed. Prosecutors allege DiMassa made cash withdrawals from the Compass Investment Group LLC bank account. Some of those withdrawls were made shortly before or after he was recorded buying chips at the Mohegan Sun Casino.

Others have left some taxpayers and officials scratching their heads.

In Flint, Michigan, Flint Public School officials authorized a $22,500 COVID-19 bonus for staff members using federal money intended “to safely reopen” schools just before the district in January shifted to online learning indefinitely citing COVID-19 concerns. The move put more than 3,500 students back into virtual learning, despite poor past results from remote learning and at least $99 million of federal money the U.S. Department of Education expressly designated “to reopen K-12 schools safely.”

Michigan state Rep. and House Education Committee Chair Pamela Hornberger, R-Chesterfield Township, called on Flint schools to offer in-person school, noting that proximate private and public schools are open in-person.

“If you got a $20,000 bonus, why wouldn’t you return to the classroom?” Hornberger said.

The Flint schools remained closed for about three weeks before reopening on Monday.

"While people of good will can debate how the money was spent, but the fact is that all of it was borrowed against our national debt – which is now $30 trillion and growing," Andrzejewski said.