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 riders 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.
My pleasure. 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 DOA.
But 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 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 tips
taking off income taxes for tips.
So there's 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 kind of just ask of
all of the spending in it.
Could the only agreement really come
up with tax cuts?
Well, that's where the real
rub is going to be.
Are 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 that 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 to 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 that's a 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 with Pot 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 downfield.
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 planets
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
be.
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?
Indeed.
Well, Jason Stein, thanks very much.
Thanks for joining us and your
expertise.
Thank you.
A1 b2 b3.
You're like, wait, what?
What did you say exactly?
What was the amendment?
You just voted.
To sort of mentally to.
Be interesting to see what happens.
What do you think of the bill?
You know.