Evers says budget meeting set, must be about more than tax cut

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said that a budget meeting has been set with Republican legislative leaders but he wants to make sure the discussion focuses on more than just a Republican-backed set of tax cuts.

Evers told Wisconsin Eye’s Newsmakers on Tuesday that recent revenue estimates from the state fiscal bureau are “somewhat of a downer but we can handle it.”

Republican leaders said last week that Evers had not accepted plans for a budget meeting while Evers says that Republican leaders have not made a formal counter proposal to his budget, instead cutting items from the budget and then asking for a tax cut.

“Overall, do I want to cut some taxes? Yes,” Evers said. “In fact, we did in our budget.

“People have been working on our side and their side to come up with some things that we know are important to the people of Wisconsin and reach some compromise.”

Wisconsin Policy Forum estimated that Evers’ budget proposal would spend $4 billion of the state’s expected $4.3 billion surplus if enacted while Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, estimated that Evers’ proposal would lead to $3 billion in tax increases over the two-year span.

“They don’t like the fact we increased taxes on very, very wealthy people,” Evers said. “However, our tax bill I think is more fair than theirs.”

Overall, Evers said that his priorities are child care, spending more on K-12 education, special education, the UW-System and early childhood programs.

“It can’t be just about taxes,” Evers said. “The thing that concerns me is a budget is a budget. It includes expenditure and what taxes are going to be … those things work together.”

Evers also encouraged expanding Medicaid in the state while Born was cited by Wisconsin Eye as estimating Medicaid will now cost $1.6 billion more in state funding in the next budget.

“It’s a federal program that should be paid for with federal money,” Evers said.