A middlle class tax cut passed the Wisconsin Assembly Tuesday.
Governor Tony Evers has said he won't sign the bill because it relies on a budget surplus to cover lost revenue. Evers has proposed his own tax cut plan, half of it covered by putting new limits on tax credits for manufacturers.
Republicans don't want to raise taxes on businesses to pay for the cuts. Representative Rob Swearingen of Rhinelander says the 2020 tax cuts are for families under $150,000 or individuals under $100,000. He says Republicans are following up on Governor Tony Evers' pledge for that tax cut.
He says they're looking at using the $588 million budget surplus to fund the cut...
"...there is some opposition on how the tax cut should be placed using the budget surplus. The Governor would like to eliminate the manufacturing and agricultural tax credit which would be a tax increase,or at least a tax shift. The legislature doesn't agree with the Governor on that aspect. We hope the Governor reconsiders and passes our version of the tax cut...."
Before the Senate vote Wednesday, State Senator Janet Bewley had the Democrats view. She says Governor Evers has made a tax cut a centerpiece promise. But she says the move is questionable at this time because it will be addressed again later when Evers releases his budget on February 28.
"..The Republicans want to take a different way of funding it, but also a different way to get it passed. Rather than wait for the budget, which is a better way of looking at all the things we do, how we spend our money, and how we gain revenue, (Republicans)want to pull it out and deal with it in a discreet way, which is kind of silly if you ask me because it could be completely undone when we pass the budget..."
Bewley says Evers would like to find an on-going revenue source to fund the tax cut, rather than a cut that always assumes a tax surplus.
