actually see the level of the And I.
>> Wisconsin comes into the budget season with a $4.3
billion surplus. But as expected, the Republican
majority legislature calls the Evers plan dead on arrival.
Republican budget writers say they will start from scratch.
We're joined by Jason Stein of the Wisconsin Policy Forum for
his take. And thanks for being here, Jason.
>> Thank you. So it sure seems like a lot of work and a lot of
number crunching on the part of the governor and his
administration to end up with a budget that's D.O.A. Is it more
like a potential reelection vision statement on the
governor's part? >> Potentially, yes. I mean,
it's certainly a vision statement. Right. And you do
feel a little bit for the analysts and budget writers who
work, you know, painstakingly to put all this stuff together. And
then it's right into the trash heap in some sense. But there
may be some areas where they can work together. I mean, the
governor had an increase in tax credits for buying down local
property taxes. He had a tips taking off income taxes for
tips. So there are some areas where Republicans have worked in
those same vein in the past. So there may be some areas where
they can have a meeting of the minds. But clearly on many
things in this budget, there will not be.
>> In fact, I was going to just ask of all of the spending in
it. Could the only agreement really come with tax cuts?
>> Well, that's where the real rub is going to be. Or the back
and forth with the governor. I mean, the governor's proposal
would decrease some taxes, but raise a number of others, and on
net would increase taxes by more than $2 billion. Now, obviously,
given that the state has a $4 billion surplus, that's a
nonstarter for Republicans. They will be looking at large income
tax cuts, which last time the governor vetoed. I think the
thing that will probably keep both sides working with one
another is with no budget passing, there would be upward
pressure on property taxes around the state, particularly
school property taxes, because of provisions that are in
current law. So I think both sides are going to really feel
some pressure to get a deal, because they don't really want
to see that happen. With K-12 test scores, really. Sadly
sagging. I trust pouring more than $3 billion into that part
of the education budget and freezing school choice slots is
not the majority's idea of an answer.
>> I mean, clearly they're very far apart from one another. On
the issue of both income taxes and education. You know, the one
being the Republican priority, the other being the governor's
priority. I think, again, where you have some impetus to get
that increase is in the governor in his veto last year, put for
400 years, he stuck in with his partial veto. This steady
increase in the limits, the state limits that govern how
much school districts can spend. And so they're going to get like
a two and a half or 3% bump in that spending limit. Revenue
limit every year. And so if there's no budget, there's no
state aid to kind of take up the slack there and keep property
taxes from going up. And I think that's something that
Republicans have in the back of their heads and will be a reason
for them not to walk away from the negotiating table.
>> Where else might the sides potentially come together? What
about Evers prison plan that would eventually close? Green
Bay Correctional? Do Republicans take parts of that and kind of
call it their own and rework it? >> Great question. I mean, I
think there's something fundamentally there that must be
dealt with. I mean, we have two prisons that go back to the 19th
century. Waupan and green Bay Correctional. The governor wants
to close green Bay Correctional. He has a very creative way to do
that. I mean, it's kind of like a flea flicker play in football
where you're you're passing the ball from one player to another
and they're throwing down field. It's a touchdown. If you get
that and you connect on that play. But it also has a lot of
ways it can break down. I suspect the Republicans will
probably not take that plan in its entirety, but some elements
of it, they may do. >> Also, Evers proposes what's
described as an historic investment in the university.
$856 million over two years. Given what's happening around
the state with closures and layoffs and that kind of thing
at the at the colleges, does that resonate?
>> It's a great question. I mean, the issue of higher
education has become very politicized, much more than it
was, let's say, two decades ago. And so, you see, actually, at
the federal level, some dispute right over whether to decrease
the amount of research grant funding that goes out to
universities like UW-Madison or the Medical College of
Wisconsin, or even UW Milwaukee, whether or not there there may
be some increase on the possibility, because in many
cases, the UW campuses that would be hurt the most would be
in more Republican areas, or at least in purple areas of the
state. So that one, I think, is to BD.
>> It seemed of note to me that Evers was using his budget to
try to guard against impacts from President Trump's actions
out of Washington, saving out what was it, nearly $500 million
of kind of in case money, right? >> I mean, the governor's
leaving enough reserves to cover about 10% of state spending. I
mean, that's historically a pretty good number. At the same
time, it would not be enough in the event of a really severe
recession. So I think there will be some back and forth with the
legislature. Again, the governor would pull down roughly $3.5
billion of the surplus. But, you know, Republicans did the same
thing two years ago with their income tax proposal. And the
governor just partially vetoed it. So I think part of the
question is, do the two sides working at cross-purposes get us
to a sustainable budget, which is what has happened in recent
cycles, or an unsustainable budget, which is more what
happened in the 2000 when you and I were starting at the state
Capitol. Stein, thanks very much. Thanks