There's been a lot written about the efforts undertaken by Madison-area real estate developer Terrence Wall to avoid paying taxes on properties he own in the Madison area, and as a result of what's been written, Wall sent an email to Capital Times reporter Mike Ivey responding to what's been written. In his response, Wall somehow tries to equate his conversion of an expensive and valuable piece of commercial real estate in the heart of Middleton into a rotting pumpkin patch (where the pumpkins are given away, thus undermining actual pumpkin farmers) with taking a home mortgage deduction on your taxes if you own a home. If homeowners who have a garden were able to convert that portion of their residentially zoned property into agricultural zoning, Wall may have a point, but they can’t so he doesn’t.
In his response, Wall also claimed that the law is working "exactly as the legislature intended." However, WKOW-TV in Madison did a story on the issue and when asked, Paul Musser, Middleton's city assessor, questioned the law's application to Wall's scenario and other similar approaches:
"I don't think that's what it originally was set up to be. It was originally set up to preserve farmland."
Preserving farmland and avoiding paying taxes are not the same thing, no matter what Terrence Wall may want people to think, but the part of Wall's response that I find to be most hypocritical is this:
Liberals have never found a tax increase they didn't like. They will always argue for higher taxes, higher assessments, higher fees, because for many of them, their very own livelihood depends on ever increasing the size of government. In their minds, the private sector should always pay more, but more is never enough for them.
I wonder....does Terrence Wall's hypocrisy know no end? After all, while he's attacking liberals for their supposed dependence on government, let's not forget that Terrence Wall's company is a frequent recipient of government help. For example, Wall requested 65 million dollars in TIF subsidies for a project of his in Middleton, so unless he's willing to disavow any government handouts for his business ventures, Terrence Wall shouldn't attack liberals for their supposed dependence on government.