Not a high tax and fee state? That quote will haunt Mary Burke throughout 2014.

First, Burke avoided taking a position on the $912 million revenue surge, the number one issue facing state government. Deferring on this question is a clear signal that Burke’s strategists haven’t yet crafted a way to spend the money.

Second and more important, Mary Burke doesn’t think Wisconsin is a “high tax and fee state.”

Really?

Some statistics from the Tax Foundation suggest otherwise.

• Wisconsin’s top income tax rate of 7.75% ranks 10th highest nationally.
• Wisconsin’s 2014 Business Tax Climate was ranked 43rd nationally.
• Wisconsin’s Tax Freedom Day is April 20, 11th latest nationally.
• The most recent rankings have Wisconsin’s overall property tax collections per capita rank 12th highest nationally.

But then again, Burke’s experience in the Doyle administration would suggest a different definition of “high taxes.” …

Wisconsin has a long way to go in order to lower the tax burden and reform the tax structure – but at least Gov. Walker and the legislature are making strong attempts to lower taxes each year. In fact, Rep. Dale Kooyenga has made it his mission to get Wisconsin out of the bottom ten of the Tax Foundation’s rankings.

Mary Burke on the other hand doesn’t think Wisconsin’s taxes are very high.

Her words, not mine.

Gov. James Doyle, you’ll recall, promised to not raise taxes, and then did. The fallout from that continues to hamper the state’s economy today.

But Burke is not the only Wisconsinite who feels this way. Media Trackers reports:

A prominent liberal activist in Wisconsin is claiming that if Governor Scott Walker enacts yet another tax cut, it will be a misuse of “public office and public dollars.”  Robert Kraig, the executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, a prominent cheerleading organization for leftwing causes and policies such as ObamaCare, fumed in an interview late last week that another tax cut in Wisconsin would be a form of corruption.

“[I]ts not corruption at the level of Chris Christie, but it is an example of misusing public office and public dollars for personal, political gain rather than the public good,” Kraig said in his organization’s weekly podcast. …

Kraig then charged that by rolling out tax reform plan after tax reform plan, Governor Walker is just trying to boost his political profile headed into a re-election battle. The tax cut proposals amount to, “using the state’s resources for political gain,” he said. Walker is “just staging this stuff out so he can be in the headlines giving away money.” …

While Kraig’s accusation that tax cuts amount to illegal activity are pretty brazen, the voluble liberal policy wonk has a history of engaging in hyperbole to get his point across. In February of 2013 he asserted that if Walker didn’t expand Medicaid according to ObamaCare suggestions, people in Wisconsin would die.

“If Governor Walker turns down billions in federal money for BadgerCare, there is no doubt that many Wisconsinites will die as a consequence.”

Amazingly, his antics haven’t seemed to cost him his credibility with some media outlets who still seek him out for comment.