Yeah, thanks. Now, can somebody tell me why the lead line for this story is so violent? It sounds like the chief justice came out like Al Pacino at the end of "Scarface". "SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!"

Thanks a lot for researching that, Janesvillian! It clears up a lot.

lakennedy, the law is written so that packaged software is subject to the tax. Presumably custom software is considered work for hire rather than goods.

According to WisBusiness.com,
"The 4-3 decision upheld the state Tax Appeals Commission, which ruled that the Menasha Corporation, a packaging company, was illegally charged the 5 percent state sales tax on specialized software it bought and modified. State tax collectors had argued what the company bought was prewritten computer software, which is subject to the sales tax. Menasha argued it was not."

In other words, the decision was not that customized software was exempt, it was that this was customized software and therefore exempt. (The article explains that Menasha had purchased and modified software for their own use.) The key point made by Justice Ziegler (and though I opposed her election I agree with this point) is that the Tax Appeals Commission is given the authority to make this determination based on the law written by the legislature, and so this effectively upheld the authority of the Commission.
http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Art...
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The software, FYI, was SAP -- one of the world's top corporate/manufacturing software packages, but which is essentially a framework every customer modifies.
http://wistechnology.com/articles/3971/
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SAP is really not comparable to off-the-shelf software you can get at Best Buy, like Microsoft Excel. It has basic packages, e.g. inventory or receivables, that will work together nearly automatically, but I don't think it is usable off-the-shelf. You need to customize it. A company expects to pay millions of dollars for a full installation and year-to-year maintenance.

Jim B--There is an EXCELLENT article about WMC in this weeks Isthmus. I thought it was very interesting, if you have time try to read it:)

Would it surprise anyone to find out that this gift to Big Business in Wisconsin was written by WMC's very own bought and paid for Annette Ziegler, the first sitting Justice to be disciplined by her peers for conflict of interest before taking her seat?

I'm with Gary, why isn't customized software subjected to salestax? Anyone know?

The tax code, both state and federal, are written not just to collect taxes but to encourage some economic activity and to discourage other activity, which generates interest in the targets and therefore also generates campaign contributions. The exemption cited was probably written to encourage certain products to be bought from local sources. The unintended consequence thereof is that the exemption is now extended beyond what the code originally intended due to the fact that software was probably unknown at the time the law was written.
The tax code is intentionally complicated as is evidenced by the fact that the Supreme Court had to decipher its meaning and found that the Revenue Dept. experts were wrong.
Simplifying it is not in the interests of career politicians and so the result is these little budget bombs surfacing every now and then. This just happens to be an unusually large bomb.

Where is your evidence that this is a SAFETY ISSUE? No one has gotten hurt here. If you beleive that there is a possiblity of that happening, then I argue that the same possibility exists at each intersection in the city, and according to your argument, we should be putting an entire network of tunnels in all over the city.
This is a huge expenditure for something recreational. While you may be "more than willing to pay..." Maybe you could cover my portion as well. I'm a twenty eight year old full time college student at UW-Madison and definitley don't feel like paying for the "possibility" that someone could get hit by a car.

Why the bike tunnel? I'm more than willing to pay for a safety issue which is open to the public and mutually beneficial to all who use it. I suppose it'll take someone getting hit and killed before everyone accepts that a tunnel is needed. Of course everything is going up the last few years, the dollar is sliding fast, textiles are skyrocketing because of a quickly advancing global economy, and we're headed for a major energy crisis. Here's an idea for everyone, start being more PERSONALLY fiscally responsible. I can feed myself healthy meals for less than $4 (yes, it actually involves a little time to shop and prepare meals), I've changed my driving habits and now get over 40mpg with my car instead of the 35 I used to get, and in the winter instead of blasting my home heat when it's cold, I just put on 2 or 3 layers of clothes. I've probably saved a few thousand dollars this past year doing all these things. Oh yeah, and I'm a 27 year old full-time college student at UWW and I make less than $16,000/year and am doing just fine.

Could someone please explain why customized computer software is not subject to a sales tax?

That entire budget negotiating process was ridiculous, I blame the state reps--on both sides--more than Doyle, though.
He's dealing with a lot of crap that Thompson originally did.
I hear you about the tax hike blowing up budgets. My tuition has gone up at least $600.00 over the last two years. It seems that everything is going up, and the taxpayers just have to sit and take it.
On the local level, there is something you can do to try and keep your property tax bills a little lower...contact Tom McDonald at mcdonaldt@ci.janesville.wi.us and let him know that you don't want to see an increase in your taxes for the bike tunnel!!!

Just what would a budget-shaped target look like?

I feel another tax hike coming, which would blow a hole in my budget. Maybe the state could raise money by having a target shooting contest, where contestants can win a prize for blowing holes in budget shaped targets.