4A

The First Amendment

The Platteville Journal

JANUARY 27, 2016

ETC.

Old business

y overscheduled schedule
this month included covering two meetings of the city
Historic Preservation Commission.

Both meetings made me think the

same thing: Under no circumstances
would I ever own a building in a city historic district. Its a good thing for Platteville that there are people who are willing to go through the multiple hoops
Steve Prestegard
to improve downtown buildings, or, as
plattevillejournaleditor@
Steves Pizza Palace owner John Patakos
gmail.com
is trying to do, build downtown.
(Old business could apply to another
story this week, downtown parking, which may get covered
in this space next week.)
It should be pointed out that the opinions here shouldnt
be construed as a personal attack on any member of the
commission. (Differences in opinion werent previously considered personal attacks, but I feel the need to point this out
in our hypersensitive, easily offended times.) This is about
the commission as an arm (and, it must be said, unelected
arm) of city government, which, according to the city website, administers regulations concerning the exterior modification of properties that have been designated as locally
historic.The Commission also provides various educational
programs that are intended to provide guidance and assistance with property owners that are interested in preserving andrehabilitatingtheir historic properties.
I am coming to the conclusion that the city is officially confused about the difference between historic and old. You
can read yourself the citys Historic Preservation page at
http://platteville.org/?sc=Services&cat=94. Thats one side;
the other is that a building exists for the purpose of whatever
activity, or activities, for which the building was designed
and built. The next step from that is that when a building is
unable to serve those activities, or new activities, the building has reached the end of its use and should be able to be
replaced. That is the rejoinder to those who opine that too
many buildings considered historic or unique for instance,
the former funeral home where Hartig Drug now is, or The
Timbers restaurant were allowed to be replaced.
These may be heretical opinions on my part. (And regular
readers should be used to that by now.) But its not clear to
me that there is historic value merely in age, particularly
given the negatives of owning an old building, such as deterioration and infrastructure not to 21st-century standards.
Historic value, to me, is about what important things happened there, not just an old building. Is, for instance, Rountree Hall historic because its old, or because it was the first
building at what now is UWPlatteville? Do people visit
downtown Platteville to see old buildings?
These two meetings also reinforced my opinion about the insufficient regard that seems to exist in this area for property
rights. Last year, commission members helped force the developer of the Library Block project to make changes to the building that were, in my opinion, unnecessary, yet added cost to the
building to which, by the way, the city contributed exactly zero
money for design work. Last week, commission members opined
that Patakos needs to spend, in the estimation of designer Delta
3 Engineering, $30,000 to $40,000 more because they didnt like
how Patakos proposed brewpub and restaurant looked, even
though, again, neither the commission specifically nor the city
generally is contributing any money toward design work.
The brewpub wont do $40,000 more in business based on
how the building looks. As people who know something about
business (for instance, the difference between revenue and
profit), Patakos will have to sell a lot of microbrewed beer
and food to make up that $40,000. And in both cases, neither
Patakos proposed restaurant nor the Library Block are historic buildings. Architectural experts will tell you that faux
historic is not suitable for new buildings in an historic area.
The Pizza Block was followed by discussion over where to
put a sign for another building on the north side of City Park, a
home repurposed for hair care and as a spa. This is the sort of
thing the city should be encouraging, not making it more difficult by delaying development over, previously, the houses porch
and, most recently, where a sign should go, which, again, causes
the building owner added expense unreimbursed by the city.
One would think the city would be more cognizant of the need
to encourage, not discourage, development downtown, particularly considering the red ink flowing from downtown Tax Incremental Financing District 7 and the citys lack of available tax
revenue for such needs as streets and a new fire station. It is not
enough to offer tax credits, which come with city, state and federal stipulations. It is not necessarily appropriate for the city to
serve as a banker of last resort either, as is happening with at
least two downtown buildings (including the building this newspaper does not own but where you can find us).
Perhaps this should be an issue in this Common Council
election.

The Platteville

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M adiso n J our n al

Tax Day, and how taxes have changed

by Sen. Howard Marklein
(RSpring Green)

oing our taxes is a task

that few of us enjoy, but
we all have to do them.

As Americans, we are expected and

legally obligated, to contribute a portion of our income to our governments.
While most of us would prefer to bypass
this annual duty, it is a chore that most
of us must complete before mid-April.
This year, Tax Day has been postponed to Monday, April 18. The usual
tax deadline, April 15 is Emancipation
Day, which is a holiday in Washington,
D.C. Emancipation Day is the anniversary of the day President Abraham
Lincoln signed the order to end slavery in the United States. It is annually
held on April 16. However, April 16 is
a Saturday, so the official observance
was moved to April 15, thus moving
tax day for all Americans this year.
Despite the fact that we get a couple of extra days this year, it is recommended that all taxpayers start their
taxes early and file well before the
deadline. Whether you are filing yourself or employing the services of a tax
professional, filing early and taking
your time will increase your accuracy
and decrease your stress.
In my experience taxpayers who wait
until the last minute are much more
vulnerable to making a mistake or forgetting an important part of their tax
filing. Gather your information as soon
as you can, make an appointment early
this spring and process your taxes with
time to spare.
As you gather your tax documents
and receipts, please note that we are
all obligated to pay the Wisconsin use
tax on all purchases of goods and services that we make out-of-state, online
or through catalogs that dont collect

a Wisconsin sales tax. If you have ordered an item from a retailer who did
not collect Wisconsin sales tax, take 5%
of the full purchase price and this is the
amount of use tax you owe to the state.
Paying the use tax levels the playing
field with in-state, traditional brick
and mortar retailers and in-state online businesses such as Lands End.
For example, when you purchase an
item from Lands End, you are automatically charged the 5 percent sales
tax by the company. However, if you
purchase a similar item from LL Bean,
they do not collect this tax and you
would owe 5% use tax to the state.
Your role as a taxpayer plays an extremely important role in the finances
of our state and federal governments. In
2013, Wisconsin residents paid more than
$7 billion in state income taxes and more
than $19 billion in federal income taxes.
Beside property taxes, income taxes are
the largest tax many of us pay each year.
The $7 billion contributed to our
states General Fund makes up 53 percent of state government revenue. The
remainder of funding for state government comes from sales tax (35 percent),
excise taxes (12 percent) taxes paid
when purchases are made on a specific
good and corporate taxes (7 percent).
As your state senator, I am consistently seeking ways to lower and simplify all taxes, especially income taxes,
in Wisconsin. We have already made
significant progress toward simplification by lowering the number of tax
brackets from five to four, reducing tax
rates, and eliminating various loopholes and special deductions. Since
2010, 19 different tax credits have
been eliminated in Wisconsin.
The lower income tax rates we
passed in the 201315 budget have
already provided significant, noticeable relief. Last year the amount of

income tax paid by Wisconsin residents decreased by 5.8 percent, from

$7,496,900,000 to $7,061,400,000.
These numbers are significant because
the years leading up to this rate change
saw increases of 10 percent (201011),
5.1 percent (201112) and 6.5 percent
(201213). But then, we changed the
rates and after several years of increased
revenue from income taxes, a cut in
rates is resulting in less money taken
out of taxpayer pockets without a recession causing the decrease.
Last year was the first full year that
Wisconsin has been withholding less
from every persons paycheck; $323 million was budgeted to allow the state to
lower withholding tables. This means
that the state has been taking less from
each paycheck over the year, allowing
more money to stay with taxpayers instead of being sent to Madison.
As you prepare your 2015 taxes,
I would encourage you to consider a
change that will be effective for your
2016 taxes if you are married. In the
201517 state budget, we fixed the
marriage penalty in our tax code. Previously, single filers were able to claim a
larger tax deduction than those who are
married and filing jointly. This created
a significant disadvantage to those filing joint taxes as married couples.
For 2016, we increased the standard
deduction for joint filers, moving closer
to eliminating this unfair treatment. As
with all detailed questions about your income taxes, please consult a tax professional for advice and information about
how this change will impact you directly.
In Wisconsin, you can file your taxes
electronically through the Wisconsin
Department of Revenue (DOR) website, www.revenue.wi.gov/wi_efile/.
There are also several organizations
that offer free volunteer income tax assistance for those who qualify.

LETTERS
The Platteville Journal, P.O. Box 266, Platteville, WI 53818-0266 plattevillejournaleditor@gmail.com

Another Obama view

Laughter is a great thing! It is because of this that I would like to thank
John Hempstead for his letter Jan.
13. Initially, I felt his words must be
tongue in cheek. By the time I finished reading his article, I recognized
that he actually believed what he had
expressed. The laughter began.
I am well aware that nothing I express will cause to Mr. Hempstead to
change his opinions. Nor will it change
the views of those who view things as
he does. However, he did ask the question, If Obama has been so successful
with his quiet work, why is there such
a mediocre public opinion of him.
The answer to his question can be
found in the question itself. His question
begins with the word if. The problem for
Obama is that he has not been successful. Therefore, Mr. Hempstead began his
question by creating a false narrative.
In his list of executive actions, he
erroneously claimed that they were
supported by the majority of American citizens. Now, I have little doubt
that these actions taken by the president are supported by the majority of
the people that Mr. Hempstead knows.
This is obviously a very small sample
of Americans and certainly the views of
a very select liberal ideology.
I will attempt to shed some light on
the list of accomplishments presented.
No matter how many executive actions
are taken regarding gun purchases,
when the Justice Department fails
to punish those who commit fraud on
their applications, all the executive actions in the world will make no difference. It should be so obvious that criminals and terrorists do not get their
weapons by filling out applications.
Our economy has not been restored to

health. The actual unemployment rate

is falsified and the middle class is earning less. The Affordable Health Care
Act is more restrictive and more expensive. If you pose a question that is supported by a list of false and misleading
arguments, you are either attempting
to use trickery or are simply very nave.
Obama fooled a lot of people with his
slick slogan of hope and change. Currently, two-thirds of Americans feel we
are headed in the wrong direction. The
most amazing thing about that statistic is the one-third who find something
they must think is good.
History will record that this presidency
was one of great divisiveness. We had a
president who acted as those he was chosen to be our king. His Justice Department is corrupt, the Internal Revenue
Service is corrupt, and the State Department is both corrupt and inept. The only
hope and change we have with one
more year of this left to go is hope for as
little damage as possible and change to
someone who is a real reader.
Now, the part that caused most of
the laughter: conservative media
bias. Make no mistake, there is some
conservative media bias. However,
anyone who thinks that media bias
isnt heavily favoring liberals is either
dishonest or nave to the core.
Has Donald Trump gotten too much
coverage? Yes! The answer to why
that is the case can be explained in
one word: money. Not his money
the money generated by ratings. All of
the liberal media ABC, CBS, NBC,
CNN, MSNBC, etc. know they must
cover Trump or their ratings and revenue will continue to drop. Come on,
Mr. Hempstead, do you really feel that
the Democrats debate had enough substance to fill a news hour? Even the
liberal media recognize that covering

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders

trying to outspend each other by raising our taxes is not really what most
people want to hear.
Too much Trump; we agree. I will assume that we disagree that there are
10 conservative candidates that would
be better than either Clinton or Sanders. Clinton should be in prison and
Sanders should be running for the
presidency of Greece.
As I have stated before, my dad always told me that women were smarter
than men. I am being left to wonder
if this is actually true. If women turn
out to vote for a woman who they must
know is a liar, how am I to believe that
they are actually that smart? It is hard
to believe that a woman enjoys being
lied to. Was my father correct or have
times changed that much?
I can only hope that my children
have a chance of a decent future. That
does not include another corrupt liar or
a socialist.
Thomas Skubal
Platteville

The Platteville Journal will print

most letters to the editor, regardless of
the opinion presented. The Journal reserves the right to edit material that is
libelous or otherwise offensive to community standards and to shorten letters The Journal determines are excessively long. All letters must be signed
and the signature must appear on the
printed letter, along with a contact
number or email for verification. Some
submitted letters may not be published
due to space constraints. Thank you
letters will not be printed. All letters
and columns represent the views of the
writers and not necessarily the views of
The Platteville Journal.