WMC wants educated work force as long as someone else pays for it

In a recent opinion column (May CRBJ), James Buchen, vice president of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, criticized Wisconsin's investment in education as a case of misdirected priorities resulting in high individual and property taxes for Wisconsin's taxpayers.

As a business leader, Mr. Buchen should know the quality and education of the work force is an important consideration in business location. Wisconsin's work force is competing not only with other states, but also with other countries.

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WMC has participated in numerous task forces on education and always appears to support effective public education, but they fail to support the public investment necessary to make that commitment a reality.

They point to the relatively high income and property taxes paid by individuals in Wisconsin. But they fail to point out that Wisconsin's overall taxes are moderate. Businesses in Wisconsin pay a lower percentage of the public costs than businesses in neighboring states.

This is largely because business lobby organizations such as WMC have been successful in shifting more and more of the responsibility of paying for our public investments onto the individual taxpayer.

A significant amount of public money, estimated at more than $3 billion, goes for tax breaks and subsidies that benefit businesses.

Not only does Wisconsin's business sector pay less and less of our public costs, it sucks up more and more of the public dollar, further increasing the amount paid by individuals, while decreasing money for schools and other public investments.

Wisconsin has a lot going for it when it comes to competing for business. One of these advantages is our excellent education system. This excellence is the result of generations of investment in Wisconsin schools.

Will our generation turn its back on this investment and allow Wisconsin schools to become just average? Will we allow our world-class university and our excellent technical college system to become just average?

Wisconsin aspires to excellence, we have a history of excellence and we should invest in excellence. If we lose our advantage, it will be very difficult to restore. Not only will Wisconsin parents and students lose, businesses will lose, too.

WMC should recognize that we all benefit when we invest in our future, citizens and business alike.

They should embrace paying their fair share rather than continuously inciting public dissatisfaction by supporting policies that shift taxes to individual taxpayers.