Adam Hoffer on gas tax holidays, the Emerson Elementary walks and wins and losses with legalization

The director of "sin" tax — or excise taxes — joins to talk about the effects of a gas tax holiday, what Wisconsin gains and is missing out on with legalizing sports betting and marijuana, plus Adam Hoffer is on a mission to walk every street in the city of La Crosse. We start with the definition of sin or excise tax, and why Hoffer views the gas tax differently as a "user fee" for road maintenance. We then examine calls Hoffer has been taking at the Tax Foundation lately about a gas tax holiday, and what that could mean to our road infrastructure when nearly every dollar of that tax is funneled directly into transportation budgets. After that, we discuss Hoffer’s walking tour and his goal to cover all 250 miles of city streets, plus how he leads the Emerson Elementary students to school on Wednesdays. The conversation then turns to the proposed indoor aquatic center at the Northside Community Pool site, as the first of five public meetings was happening just after we recorded. Hoffer, who sat on the UW-La Crosse Faculty Senate during the construction of the $49 million field house, offers perspective on potential funding hurdles, recalling how a single bid jump added $6 million to that project's bottom line. Lastly, we break down Wisconsin’s legalization of sports gambling and the tens of millions in windfall the state could see, as well as how much it loses by not legalizing marijuana — as all of Wisconsin's neighbors move toward established legal markets.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.