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According to the latest memo from Wisconsin’s bipartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB), Wisconsin will raise an additional $1.6 billion over the next two years. When you add the $700 million surplus that will roll over into this next biennium, Wisconsin will have approximately $2.4 billion in new revenue. The challenge now, of course, is to stick to our conservative principles and use these new dollars to reduce the tax burden on Wisconsin’s taxpayers.
Not only should we resist unnecessary spending and more big government programs, we should maintain the fiscally sound reforms that created our present economic gains. The conservative reforms we have installed in the last eight years are working. The reforms have generated surpluses in each of the last eight years, so why would we change course now?
Through our conservative stewardship, Wisconsin has made significant progress and we are heading in the right direction, but we are not there yet. We are still not where we want to be in regard to taxes and we still see too many of our children leaving the state to find good jobs. However, in the past eight years, income and franchise taxes have been cut by nearly $4 billion while tax collections grew by 24%.
In Wisconsin we have a fully funded retirement system, historic levels of education funding and have still remained accountable to the hard-working families who pay the taxes. We owe it to our hard-working families to return excess dollars back to the people who earn it. These surpluses certainly suggest it is time to reduce the tax burden on Wisconsin’s families.
Tax Cut Hearing
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Late last month the Republican-led Legislature announced a plan to provide tax relief for the middle class. Governor Evers campaigned on the promise to cut taxes for the middle class and we are extremely excited to put such a measure on his desk to sign. The bill (AB 4) increases the allowable deduction for individuals making up to $100,000 and families making up to $155,000. I am very pleased to report that on Tuesday the Assembly and Senate held a joint hearing on the bill. And on Wednesday, the Assembly Ways and Means Committee passed the measure with an 8 to 4 party-line vote. Next week the entire Assembly will get an opportunity to vote on the measure. It is nice to see this bill moving forward very quickly. I, of course, will be a yes vote.
FoxConn
There has been a great deal of news coverage regarding FoxConn this past week. Unfortunately the media seems to be more concerned about running a negative story on the project than providing accurate information. Without rehashing all the back-and-forth and misinformation, it does seem that the news media and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle simply cannot grasp the concept that the FoxConn deal has safeguards in place to protect Wisconsin’s taxpayers. The latest and most credible news is that the leaders of FoxConn have announced they are going ahead with the plan to build new 5G television screens for the first time here in Wisconsin within the next 18 months.
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Representative Janel Brandtjen
State Capitol, Room 12 West
PO Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
Toll-Free (888) 534-0022 or (608) 267-2367
Rep.Brandtjen@legis.wi.gov | |
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