Free Republic

The Milwaukee Business Journal is reporting that Gov. Scott Walker will include a jock tax in the next budget to help fund a new Milwaukee arena project for the Milwaukee Bucks. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is preparing to propose diverting revenue from taxes on NBA players for public funding of a new arena in downtown Milwaukee, sources close to the situation told the Milwaukee Business Journal. In June 2014 Walker said in an interview with the Milwaukee Business Journal that he was studying the possibility of tapping NBA players' income tax for arena construction funding, a so-called "jock tax." Since...

Walker is likely to announce the arena-funding plan before his budget address [on February 3] because the arena issue would otherwise be a distraction to his main budget messages, an influential Republican legislator told the Business Journal Friday. Walker has been hearing from the MMAC and other Milwaukee-area business executives who support the arena project."Ninety-five percent of what (Walker) puts in the budget stays," the influential Republican legislator told the Business Journal Friday. "It would take a lot of momentum to get something out of the budget."Another source familiar with the arena push said that while the "jock tax" will...

Gov. Scott Walker is expected to announce Tuesday morning that he plans to put into the state budget a financing plan that includes bonding to help build a multipurpose arena in downtown Milwaukee. A source familiar with Walker's plan said the governor's plan relies on the diversion of income taxes paid by visiting National Basketball Association athletes as well as Milwaukee Bucks players to pay the debt service on the bonding.....