UPDATE. The only opponent quoted in the article is a WMC lobbyist who once served as an intern for current Assembly Speaker Robin Vos

Wisconsin Public Radio, 8/30/2018

Photo credit LinkedIn

Headline:  WMC

Corydon is paid to lobby against closing the dark store tax loophole.

Reference to Corydon connection to Vos is found here.

Dark Store Theory resources found at League of Wisconsin Municipalities


Original 2/11/2018 post starts here.

In spite of bipartisan support for closing the loophole.

2017 Senate Bill 291 (red and blue highlights added)

Close the Dark Stores Tax Loophole. (Urban Milwaukee, 2/8/2018)

Here’s how Dark Store tax scheme works. Big Box retailers have a developed the “Dark Store Theory” to lower the value of their commercial property and shift their property tax burden onto local homeowners. Using the Dark Store theory, corporate tax lawyers argue that new, fully operational Big Box stores be assessed at the same value as the empty, abandoned store they have left behind. 

The corporate attorneys then seek massive property tax refunds from municipalities and threaten to sue if their request is rejected. They know that the deep pockets of the Big Box chains can extend a lawsuit for years and pressure the municipalities to settle for far less than the Big Box chain would pay under normal circumstances. This increases property taxes for homeowners, often by hundreds of dollars a year.

Related reading:
GOP Leaders Bow to Special Interests on “Dark Store” Bills.  (Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, 2/8/2018)

Their master's voice.  A more likely reason is Vos and Fitzgerald are caving in to powerful special interests that oppose the bills, led by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), the state’s largest business group. WMC secretly raised and spent about $32.7 million between January 2006 and December 2017 on outside electioneering activities in legislative and statewide races to support conservative and Republican candidate.

Other dark store posts:
UPDATE. Based on this weaselly Scott Walker quote, the answer is 'no'. (5/10/2017)
In the case of Meijer, you might want to watch what the other hand is doing.  (8/4/2015)
Dark store disaster strikes Peter White library.  (2/23/2015)