Glendale may seek legal action to pause new Milwaukee sales tax

GLENDALE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The mayor of a Milwaukee suburb says his community is seeking legal action to pause the new Milwaukee sales tax. It's because that tax is mistakenly being charged in his city, and in other suburbs. 

Glendale mayor Bryan Kennedy says it appears businesses are charging the new 2% Milwaukee sales tax by zip code. 

However, a number of suburbs, such as Glendale, Greenfield, and Wauwatosa, share zip codes with Milwaukee. 

Kennedy says the mayors have learned both online and in person charges have included the new sales tax, even when the sale was made in a neighboring suburb. 

Glendale is now considering going to court and asking for the Milwaukee sales tax to be halted until the Wisconsin Department of Revenue can straighten out the issue. 

"Look at your sales tax. Hold onto your receipts 'cause one of the things we're gonna be asking is they have to refund the money to everybody. I don't know how the DOR is gonna do that, but they can't illegally collect a tax and then expect to be able to pass it on to a municipality that wasn't supposed to get that tax in the first place," said Kennedy. 

The Glendale Common Council will discuss that possible legal action on Monday, Jan. 8.

An email provided by the Greenfield mayor shows the Department of Revenue was aware of this possible problem in November. 

At the time, the DOR told lawmakers it was working to build a new database allowing businesses to take into account the city or village, in addition to zip code.