Today, Gov. Evers issued his vetoes for the GOP budget. Below are 5 things you need to know about the state-of-play when it comes to the budget in Wisconsin:
1. Thanks to conservative governance and tax cuts, the state is – as Governor Evers agrees – “in a strong financial position”.
2. Rather than immediately increasing Wisconsinites’ take home pay and further protecting taxpayers through a large rainy day fund deposit, Governor Evers’ partial vetoes gives state government over $1.25 billion more in revenue.
3. The strong financial position of the State, coupled with massive federal funds, further illustrates that taxpayers should be given more financial relief.
4. The Governor executed relatively few vetoes for a budget bill: 50. That’s the lowest since 2011, and similar to 2013 (57) and 2011 (50) – but those budgets had the same party in power in both the Governor’s Office and the Legislature. If it’s such a bad budget, why didn’t he veto more of it – or all of it?
5. The Governor partially-vetoed numerous accountability and legislative oversight requirements – Wisconsinites should be concerned about this.
Keep on the lookout for more from IRG as we provide updates on the budget battle in Madison.