Gov. Jim Doyle's plans to propose a tax hike for oil companies at his budget adress tonight has already caused state Legislators to question who will be hurt by the tax increase.
The proposal would increase the gas tax by $300 million, said Mike Prentiss, a spokesperson for Senate Republican leader Scott Fitzgerald.
Carla Vigue, spokesperson for Doyle, said the tax falls on oil companies who are making record profits this year, not on taxpayers.
Prentiss said Republicans believe that the tax increase meant to cut into oil company profits would be passed along to consumers instead.
""This is just another one of the many tax increases the governor has rolled out in the past couple of weeks that are going to take money out of the pockets of middle class families in the state,"" Prentiss said.
According to Prentiss, the proposal will not make it far, because the Republican Party has control of the state Assembly and will be working hard to fight the proposal.
He added, ""I would hope there would be some Democrats in the state Senate that realize that increasing Wisconsin taxes by $300 million is a bad idea.""
Both Vigue and the local branch of the International Union of Operating Engineers agreed the tax increase would benefit taxpayers.
Terry McGowan, the business manager of the local 139 branch of the IUOE said the burden of the tax increase would not fall on taxpayer's shoulders because of a provision that will prohibit the wholesale tax from being passed onto the consumer.
The money collected from the tax increase, about $440 million, would still not cover the amount of money necessary to fix infrastructures for Wisconsin transportation, said McGowan.
