Is this even news?

Liberal Milwaukee politicians want to extend and expand an existing tax:

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and two local law enforcement officials want telephone users to help pay for police, firefighters and paramedics through their phone bills.

The fee was first added onto cell phone bills to pay for technology that lets emergency services find you if you’re calling from a cell phone. It’s supposed to expire November 30, but:

But before the fee expires, Barrett wants lawmakers to authorize municipal governments to retain the surcharge and expand it to cover all telephones, including land lines provided by both telephone and cable companies. Milwaukee would be able to boost its charge to a maximum of $1 a month in 2009 and $1.50 a month in future years.

Old taxes never die. They never really fade away, either: they just fade into the background until we’ve become used to them. They become the new baseline, and then some tax-and-spend politician will try to expand them even more, assuming that we’ve forgotten being promised that that would never happen. And too often, they're right.