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It's been a year of big victories for the
people of Wisconsin. Our K-12 schools are supported this year with
a record-high level of state funding; a typical Wisconsin classroom of
20 students (like these ones who visited the Capitol recently!) is getting more than
$12,000 in new funding alone in this budget. Our freeze on
University of Wisconsin tuition, in place for at least two more years,
has already saved the average college student more than $6,000 over the
past four years. We've recently passed a welfare reform package
that is going to be a model for the whole country, attacking FoodShare
fraud, requiring child support compliance, requiring drug screening and
broadening work requirements for able-bodied adults.
In the past year, we've deleted three
state-level taxes entirely. Property taxes are lower in 2018 than
they were in 2010 (unless your community determined to raise taxes via
referendum for your local needs) and no longer include any state tax at
all; in fact, the average Wisconsinite enjoys the lowest property tax
burden since 1946 at just 3.6 percent of income. We reduced the
size of the state government by more than 400 positions. Even so,
we have the largest "rainy day fund" set aside that we've ever had
and a projected surplus in revenues coming by 2019 (which I intend
to return to you, its rightful owner).
There's always more to do, but this is
what it looks like to be "moving in the right direction." Through
sound governing, we're delivering better results and investing in our
state's future but still watching out for the bottom line.
As always, I encourage you to follow
my updates on
social media or contact
my office directly with your questions. Best wishes on your weekend!
It's
Your One-Stop Shop
Wisconsin's official website,
Wisconsin.gov, has
been recently redesigned. Give it a try; there's something for
everyone!
I'll admit that I laughed at first at the
four links displayed most prominently on the main page: "Fishing License,"
"Road Construction," "Register a Business," and "Driver's License." On
reflection though, I bet these actually are the things most visitors to the
website need! Other features you might appreciate include the link,
right on the homepage, to the notices and minutes of public meetings across
the state; job resources; tax information; and even a new
kids' section.
Check it out!
Enough
Already!
It's been about 15 years since the federal
government established the National "Do Not Call" Registry. It's been
a highly successful program that has cut way back on the harassment of
consumers in America. I looked into the program again recently and
thought you might appreciate some refreshers that I found helpful:
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The place to go is
www.donotcall.gov. It's
easy and free to register your phone number or to confirm whether you're
already signed up. It doesn't matter if you have a landline or a
cell phone; once you have enrolled your phone number, it will remain on
the registry permanently unless you ask that it be removed or your phone
number is deactivated.
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The Do Not Call Registry prohibits
unwanted sales calls. You
may still receive political calls, charitable calls, debt collection
calls, informational calls and telephone surveys. If you ask a
business not to call you again, it must honor your request.
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If you get an illegal sales call, hang
up. Don't interact in any way; don't press any buttons to be taken
off a call list or talk to a live person. Because most of the
illegal calls are automated, if you interact, you'll probably just keep
getting more calls.
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After you hang up on the illegal call,
use this quick
online form to file a complaint with the federal government.
The government probably won't reply to your complaint directly, but they
use the data gathered from many people's complaints to figure out who
the bad actors are.
Click here to learn more!
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