Reports indicate the state is headed for a disastrous $5 billion state budget deficit. The worst way to get out of a hole is to keep digging, i.e., increasing taxes and fees. And yet, it seems Wisconsin will continue its fiscally irresponsible practice of increasing taxes and fees at a time when they are least affordable.

Case in point: The Wisconsin Division of Emergency Management wants to increase the fees for businesses that are required to file emergency planning notifications or that store hazardous chemicals by a whopping 35 percent. Wisconsin hasn’t increased the fees since they were first implemented in 1990 and now is not a good time to start.

More than 7,000 facilities in Wisconsin would be affected by the fee increases. Currently, the emergency planning notification fee is $800 per facility and would increase to $1,080 under the proposed rule. The inventory form fee would increase across all levels of reporting requirements, ranging from $205 to $1540. The emergency planning notification fee is a one-time fee. The inventory form fee is an annual fee.

The additional fees are expected to increase revenues by $471,000; however, there is a larger issue to consider. If this is any indication how the state, in general, is going to address its fiscal crisis, as compared to other states that are cutting rather than increasing taxing and spending, Wisconsin’s economic problems will only become more severe.