Public Hearing Scheduled for Unemployment Compensation Tax Break
Proposal would exempt the first $10,200 in UC benefits from taxation
(MADISON)—Today, Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) issued the following statement regarding the public hearing for Senate Bill 267 that is scheduled in the Senate Committee on Labor and Regulatory Reform for next week Tuesday, April 20th at 10:30 AM in State Capitol Room 300 Southeast:
“I would like to thank Senator Steve Nass for scheduling a public hearing for this important legislation. This hearing will provide an opportunity to hear from beneficiaries, tax professionals, labor representatives and others about how this policy might affect them and those that they represent.
“Senate Bill 267 is bipartisan legislation that would create a state tax exemption to match the one that Congress and President Biden have already approved for unemployment beneficiaries’ federal taxes. I am hopeful that my colleagues will recognize the wisdom of providing a break to those Wisconsinites who have been hit hard by this pandemic.
“Workers in many sectors of our state’s economy have borne the economic effects of COVID-19. There are tens of thousands of Wisconsin workers struggling daily just to make ends meet. Many people have undergone a difficult process just to get access to these benefits which they have paid into through their hard work. This is just one way that we can try to make up for the difficulties which they have faced.
“The legislature and the governor have already passed and signed a bill that provides a tax exemption for the Paycheck Protection Program loans that businesses received in 2020, and I think it is only fair that we provide something similar to the workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own.”
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