Local reps spell out legislative priorities

Two local assembly representatives highlighted their legislative priorities at a Joint Legislative Committee meeting held Monday at Central Wisconsin Airport, Mosinee.

Rep. Pat Snyder (R-Wausau) said he supports tax reform. He is willing to discuss getting rid of the personal property tax, he said, and either getting rid of the income tax or turning it into a flat tax.

He said he wants to help local municipalities with frozen shared revenue and levy limits “without burdening the taxpayer.”

Snyder said he wants to improve day care, by both paying day care workers more and by lowering the cost to parents. He said the high cost of daycare is taking women out of the workforce and exacerbating the worker shortage. “I want to fix the daycare situation,” he said. “It is an economic driver.” Snyder, too, said that a different method of paying for road maintenance was needed as more cars and trucks will be electric and not pay gas tax. “If we have a guy from Illinois drive his Tesla across Wisconsin, what money do we get?” he asked.

Rep. Donna Rozar (R-Marshfield) said that she, too, supported tax reform. She said the income tax should be replaced by consumption taxes, such as the sales tax.

Rozar said she supported construction of a nuclear energy plant in Wisconsin in order to provide “energy diversity.”

Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Rozar said she supported spending money to help women in crisis pregnancies. She said extra funding should be provided for foster care and adoption agencies.