The Wisconsin Legislature has proposed a new tax, which in itself isn’t news, but this particular one calls for doubling the tax on car rentals in order to pay for a train between Milwaukee and Kenosha. The daily tax on some cars would actually be higher than some car companies charge for a daily rental.

This is wrong on so many levels, it’s hard to know where to start. First of all, this is asking people who aren’t even going to use the train to pay for it. Secondly, the bulk of the cars rented in Southeastern Wisconsin are in Milwaukee, forcing Milwaukee County to pay the bulk for something that “benefits” three counties. The quotes around “benefits” is because no one is really sure who benifits from this train, other than the people who will work for the railroad. I don’t know this for sure, but I suspect that more than half of the cars rented in Milwaukee County are “local” rentals, that is, people who live here renting a car for business (like I often do) or to have wheels while their car is in a repair facility.

The worst part about this is that unsuspecting visitors to Milwaukee will get smashed by this car rental tax - once. If I’m a business person visiting Milwaukee, I’ll fly into Milwaukee, rent a car, and choke when I see the bill. On all subsequent trips to Milwaukee, I will fly into O’Hare, rent a car there, and drive to Milwaukee. I’ll pay tolls to Illinois and, while I’m at it, I’ll just get a hotel room in Chicago while I wait for my return flight. I’m sure Mitchell Officials and Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce types will love to see that happen.

In my own case, I often rent cars for business trips. If this tax passes, I will simply ride the shuttle to O’Hare, pick up my rental there, and go my merry way. All those lower rental taxes will go to Illinois, not Wisconsin.

Doesn’t anyone in Madison ever stop to look and see how the real world works?