The sales tax in Milwaukee will go up 2 cents per dollar next year after the Common Council voted yesterday to raise the rate as part of a bipartisan plan to avoid bankruptcy, the Associated Press reported. City leaders who pushed for approval of the higher sales tax warned of looming deep cuts to core services, including police and fire protection. Opponents objected to strings attached to additional state funding, including curbing spending on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Milwaukee is struggling with an underfunded pension system and not enough money to maintain essential police, fire and emergency services. Milwaukee has increasingly become reliant on federal pandemic aid to fund its essential services, which city leaders have said cost $150 million more per year to maintain. The state Legislature and Gov. Tony Evers negotiated for months over a deal signed into law last month that gave the city the option to raise the local sales tax to help it avoid insolvency in 2025. The bill signed by the Democrat Evers, and passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, boosts state aid to local governments by $275 million and ties future aid payments to the state sales tax.
