Tax Freedom Day for Wisconsin taxpayers came and went on April 13 with little fanfare, but then it's hardly a reason to celebrate.  Tax Freedom Day is the day of the year when the average taxpayer has earned enough to pay off their tax burden for the year, including federal, state, county and municipal taxes.

It's sobering to think it takes 103 days out of 365 days just to pay off our taxes.  According to the Tax Foundation, a national organization based in Washington D.C., Wisconsin has the 12th latest Tax Freedom day in the nation.  The Tax Foundation noted that for state individual income tax, Wisconsin collected $1,063 per person in 2006, ranking us 14th highest nationally.

Wisconsin’s problem is not that we tax too little, it’s that we spend too much.  I repeat that line regularly because I believe it.  But it also happens to be a quote from a state budget address by Governor Jim Doyle: “Wisconsin’s problem is not that we tax too little, it’s that we spend too much.”

It's reasonable to ask then, why Governor Doyle recently introduced, and the legislative majority appears poised to adopt, a budget plan that will increase state spending by over seven percent for the biennium from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2011.

Instead, I call for state government to hold the line on overall spending, just as families, businesses and local government are doing in the current serious economic downturn.

The budget plan not only spends seven percent more, it results in property taxes going up over three percent and it fails to deliver on the promise to reform state school aids.  It’s good the Governor protected K-12 public education funding in the budget, but he and the majority party are missing a golden opportunity.  If the plan is to increase spending at all, why not make it the top priority to reform how we fund K-12 public education?

With one party in control of both houses of the legislature and the Governor's office, and federal stimulus money to help, the top priority could have been to make the formula for state school aid equitable for all school districts be they rich or poor, rural or urban.

I welcome your input on the budget.  Send me an email at sen.schultz@legis.wi.gov to share your views.

I welcome contacts on the budget and other issues. Contact me at sen.schultz@legis.wi.gov.