I Call it the Walker Tax

When Scott Walker officially revealed his credit card budget he did a number of noteworthy things.

1. In his own proposed budgets from 2003 through 2010, his recommended tax levy number has increased nearly $40 million (an over 18% increase).
   
2. He showed that he doesn't mind engaging in massive borrowing and front loading three years of bonding into one year (the year that he is running for governor in).
   
3. He showed that he has no problem with suddenly loving and relying on a federal stimulus that only days ago he was attacking.
   
4. He has shown that he doesn't mind being a big spender, increasing county spending by double the rate of inflation.
   

One more thing that a quick examination of his 2010 budget will reveal: Scott Walker doesn't mind increasing fees that affect almost everyone. Here is a sampling of just some of the new and/or raised fees in his current 2010 proposed budget, I like to call it "The Walker Tax":

• If you want to park along the lake, for the first time ever, you are going to have to pay a fee.
  
• If you ride the bus, not only are fares and all passes going to get more expensive but you will also have to pay for a paper transfer (some of the highest in the nation).
  
• In what I'm tempted to call "Walker's Death Tax" there will now be a $150 fee for the medical examiner to transport your dead body. After Walker's proposed budget it could actually end up being more expensive to die in Milwaukee County.
  
• EMS courses will cost anywhere between $5 and $500 more under Walker's proposed budget.
  
• Zoo admissions and parking fees are both raised by a full dollar each and riding the Zoomobile just got $1.50 more expensive ($1.75 more for seniors).
  
• The fee for cremation permits will go up from $185 to $225.
  
• If you need an expert witness from the medical examiner's office, it will now cost an extra $100 an hour.
  

So while Scott Walker is proposing to increase Milwaukee County spending by twice the rate of inflation (through borrowing), he expects most of us to also spend more of our hard earned dollars...ON HIS FEES! Again, I like to call his imposition of these fees "The Walker Tax". The real question is, how will Republicans respond to Walker's massive increase in spending, borrowing, sudden love of the stimulus and increase of fees?