Tom Tiffany’s campaign rolled out a new statewide ad Wednesday built around David Crowley’s own words: asked whether a Milwaukee County sales tax increase would burden residents, Crowley said, “No. I don’t think it would be a burden.”
Tiffany posted the 30-second spot hitting Crowley for saying higher taxes are NOT a burden. “He raised property taxes five times, voted against a 10% income tax cut twice, then nearly doubled the sales tax and celebrated the tax increase with cake. He’ll take more of your money. We’ll make sure you keep more.”
The ad cites five Milwaukee County property tax increases and two votes in the Legislature against 10 percent middle-class income tax cuts. Tiffany supported both of those cuts, including the version Gov. Tony Evers later signed. The spot then hits the 2023 county sales tax jump from 0.5 percent to 0.9 percent, the highest county rate in the state.
After the county board approved the tax hike 15-3 on July 27, 2023, he posted, “Time to celebrate with Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson and the Milwaukee County board for their hard work and passing the Sales Tax vote.” Crowley signed the tax a week later. When pressed, Crowley dismissed the extra 0.4 percent as “less than a half a percent,” even as combined city and county rates left Milwaukee shoppers paying far more than families in neighboring Waukesha County.
Tiffany’s press release argues that tax follows people wherever they spend: the package on the porch, dinner out, a car, furniture, electronics, and the appliance that has to be replaced when the old one dies. “David Crowley says higher taxes aren’t a burden because taking more of your money has never been a problem for him,” Tiffany said. “He raised property taxes five times, nearly doubled the county sales tax, and voted twice against a 10% income tax cut for working families. Crowley taxes your home, your dinner out, and the package on your porch, and still thinks government should take more. Wisconsin families already pay enough. As governor, I’ll lower property taxes, cut income taxes for working families, and return the state surplus to you.”
Even the left-leaning Wisconsin Watch fact brief this month confirmed that county sales and property taxes have risen under Crowley. After a one-year levy dip tied to the new sales tax money, the levy climbed again. Crowley’s latest budget added roughly $12 million more. The extra sales tax largely funded pension costs, not improved county services, and Crowley later conceded the tax “was not going to fix all of our problems.”
Crowley is trying to message as the candidate who cares about rising costs, but his own words contradict that. He says a sales tax hike is not a burden; his own budgets raised the property tax levy again and again, and his own post treated a tax increase like a birthday. The governor’s office is not a promotion for the official who will celebrate tax increases with cake.
