Wisconsin Governor Doyle Unveils Budget

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By admin - Posted on February 19th, 2009

Budget Protects Priorities for Wisconsin’s Hardworking Families, Increases Investment in Education, Economic Development

February 18, 2009 -- MADISON – Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle tonight proposed a budget that protects Wisconsin priorities – education, health care, and public safety – while making $2.2 billion in spending cuts and protecting middle class tax cuts. Governor Doyle outlined his plan to grow Wisconsin’s economy and use one-time federal recovery funds to generate jobs. The Governor’s budget finishes the biennium with a positive balance of about $270 million, the largest surplus in 10 years.

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“At its most basic, this is a budget about what we believe is important for our future,” Governor Doyle said. “The people of Wisconsin elected us to lead. They expect us to confront our problems, make hard choices and put our state on a path that makes us stronger.”

Five principles shaped the Governor’s budget decisions:
· Protect what is most important to Wisconsin – protect education, health care, public safety and the ability to create jobs and grow the economy.
· Cut what is not essential.
· Use the federal money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan wisely.
· Protect the middle class against tax increases.
· Leave this state in better shape than it was before.

Protecting What is Most Important to Wisconsin

The Governor’s budget provides an increase for Wisconsin students and schools when almost everything else is being cut so that the responsibility of school funding is not shifted to local property taxes.

“This is clearly a time when we will have to make very deep cuts,” Governor Doyle said. “This budget makes the largest cuts we’ve ever seen. It rejects new spending requests, however worthy. At the same time, my first principle is to keep our commitment to Wisconsin’s top priorities – priorities that our state has maintained for generations. To me, that means protecting education.”

The budget also ensures that all kids who have signed up for BadgerCare Plus will continue to have access to health care coverage, maintains modest tuition increases (or prevents them altogether for some families) at the University of Wisconsin, and limits the cut to shared revenue to one percent to ensure adequate police and fire protection for communities. It invests in good Wisconsin businesses to help grow jobs and the economy.

Cutting What is Not Essential

The Governor’s budget makes the deepest cuts the state has ever faced. The budget will cut $2.2 billion over the next biennium.

“Taken together, the steps in my plan and the actions we have taken in this current budget means $1.4 billion in cuts to existing programs,” Governor Doyle said. “These cuts are huge and unprecedented. They mean we will spend less state tax money this year and next year than we did last year. Many will be called on to share the sacrifices, and I appreciate all those who are tightening their belts to get us through this time.”

The budget cuts $931 million from existing programs over the next two years. This is in addition to state government spending cuts in the current budget of $226 million and additional spending cuts made this spring of $270 million. Most recently, cabinet secretaries’ salaries and state employee bonuses were frozen, and the Governor ordered the sale of 500 state vehicles and the slowing of grant programs. In all, the Governor has cut more than $500 million out of the current budget.

Using the Federal Money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan Wisely

The Governor’s budget recognizes that the federal funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan is one-time assistance to the state and makes cuts that will be in place for several years.

“We now have a Recovery Plan that lets states be partners in moving this country forward,” Governor Doyle said. “This is tremendously valuable for Wisconsin and the whole country. It will be up to us, in this budget, to make sure that we use the stimulus money wisely.”

The Recovery Plan has two specific purposes that the state will use the funds for:
1. Maintaining jobs and getting people to work on projects that add long-term value to the state.
2. Maintaining quality of education and access to health care.

Protecting the Middle Class against Tax Increases

The Governor’s budget does not raise taxes on middle class families.

“Some have said we should raise the sales tax,” Governor Doyle said. “I’ve never done that, and I’m not going to now. Or they’ve said we should back off on recently adopted tax cuts, for items like tuition, child care expenses, social security, and insurance premiums. These tax cuts will save middle class families $360 million over the next two years – I worked hard for them, and I want them to stay.”

Cuts to the budget and wise use of federal funding eliminate two-thirds of the current budget deficit. The Governor proposed three targeted ways to raise the state revenues necessary to protect Wisconsin’s priorities:
1. Taxpayers will pay one percent more on any earnings above $300,000 a year. If you are like 99% of Wisconsin, you will not be affected.
2. Lower the income tax exemption from 60 percent to 40 percent of any capital gains earnings – still among the lowest exemptions in the country.
3. Pass an oil assessment so that big oil companies, which are still making record profits, pay their share for Wisconsin roads and provides a fine for those that try to pass the assessment on to consumers.

Leaving this State in Better Shape than it was Before

The Governor’s budget builds on his commitment to strengthen the state’s financial position and make key investments to our state. It puts revenues in line with future spending commitments and cuts the structural deficit to its lowest level in 10 years. The Governor’s budget finishes the biennium with a positive balance of about $270 million.

The Governor’s proposal:
· Expands eligibility and access to tax credits to attract new business and create jobs by:
o Tripling the Accelerate Wisconsin tax credit for angel and venture investors in support of start-up technology companies;
o Consolidating five existing tax credit programs (development zones, enterprise development zones, agricultural development zones, technology zones and airport development zones), increasing the ability to target those credits to businesses that create jobs, invest capital, provide training and retraining to new and incumbent workers, and retain jobs in companies with corporate headquarters in Wisconsin;
o Encouraging the continued growth of Wisconsin's agricultural economy through the creation of two new income tax credits for the modernization of dairy manufacturing and meat processing facilities;
o Awarding a tax credit equal to 10 percent of payroll after new jobs are created;
o Increasing the states commitment to worker training; and
o Awarding tax credits for companies that significantly increase their commitment to research and development and exempting their equipment from property and sales tax, just as it is for manufacturers.
· Allows Wisconsin communities to form Regional Transportation Authorities, important tools in driving economic development and getting people to jobs;
· Ensures that domestic partners who work for the state have access to benefits and committed couples have a limited set of legal protections, such as visitation rights at a hospital, and the right to take the appropriate leave in the case of serious illness;
· Enacts a statewide smoking ban and increases by 75 cents the cost of a pack of cigarettes in an effort to help people quit smoking;
· Invests in improving access to and oversight of child care programs; and
· Improves access to and the quality of higher education by:
o Funding the UW Growth Agenda so more students will be have access to state universities;
o Increasing the amount of financial aid in the State of Wisconsin;
o Ensuring that families with incomes less than $60,000 won’t face tuition increases and keeping tuition increases modest for those whose incomes are higher;
o Providing $25 million for the Wisconsin Covenant to augment private funding already invested in preparation for the incoming class of fall 2011; and
o Investing in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery at UW-Madison, the Great Lakes Bio-energy Research Center, the Wisconsin Genomics Initiative, and authorizing the School of Freshwater Science and School of Public Health at UW-Milwaukee.