CAPiTOL EYE

Budget signed

Evers signs GOP budget, including big tax cut, while directing $100M fed money to schools

GOP lawmakers bristled as Gov. Tony Evers took

credit for signing a $2 billion income tax cut.

Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, accused Evers of “trying to re-write history.” Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, charged Evers “got boxed into a corner and rather than fight for his unpopular budget and risk a political knockout, he and his team threw in the towel and signed our responsible budget.”

The budget Evers sent to the Legislature included a net tax increase of $1 billion. That February proposal was released before President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act that pumped billions into Wisconsin’s economy and before a big projected surplus. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau cited the federal act and the improving outlook on COVID-19 for revised revenue estimates in June that project the state will take in $4.4 billion more through mid-2023 than had been expected just five months earlier. Republicans used that influx of cash to cover the income tax cut.

But Evers said during a ceremony at a July 8 Whitefish Bay elementary school that he could take credit for the cut because he signed the document.

“I signed the budget, simple as that,” he said. “I could have vetoed that. I made a promise to the taxpayers of the state that we would reduce middle-class taxes by 10 percent. We did 15 percent, so it is a bipartisan effort.”

Joint Finance Committee Co-chair Mark Born, RBeaver Dam, called it laughable and hypocritical for Evers to take credit for the tax cuts. While the $4.4 billion in additional revenue paved the way for the GOP tax cut plan, Born pointed out the state was already looking at a surplus when Evers put together his budget and still chose a net tax increase.

Regents start UW System prez search

The UW System Board of Regents announced that Regent Vice President Karen Walsh will lead a committee to find a new UW System president.

The 19-person search group, appointed by Regent President Edmund Manydeeds III, consists of representatives from 11 out of 13 UW System universities. The group includes five regents, two former regents, three professors, three chancellors, two provosts, three staff and one university foundation officer.

“It’s a very diverse group in terms of areas of expertise. We have people of color on the committee,” Walsh said. “That was done by design.”

The two students on the committee have both served on the Board of Regents and one is currently on the board. Walsh said students, faculty and staff can offer suggestions at listening sessions to be held at each UW System campus starting in September.

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