On July 3, Gov. Tony Evers signed into law the two-year biennial budget which
On July 3, Gov. Tony Evers signed into law the two-year biennial budget which will bump up property taxes about 3 percent per year, but will reduce individual income tax rates on average by about $75 per taxpayer in 2019 and $120 in 2020.
The Governor used his powerful veto authority 78 times to make revisions to the tax and spend plan which will increase spending by nearly 6 percent over the base year budget.
Budget highlights include:
- No gas tax increase
- No gas tax indexing
- No study to “explore” a motor vehicle tax based on miles driven.
- No dramatic increase in truck fees
- Appropriates $44 million to expand Broadband Expansion Grant Program to reach underserved areas of the state
- Increases funding for the state highway rehabilitation program by 19 percent, provides $5 million per year for improving local town roads, and added $75 million per year to the Local Road Improvement Program
- $518 in individual income tax reductions over the two-year period
Governor Evers said the “budget delivers on many of the important promises I made to the people of Wisconsin and makes progress toward funding our roads, supporting schools, increasing funding for health care, and cutting taxes for working families.”
Representative Robin Vos, Speaker of the Assembly, was unhappy the Governor used his veto authority to spend $65 million more on K-12 schools, and eliminated funding for a plan to require food share recipients to work, get job training, and drug testing to remain eligible for benefits.
Speaker Vos, however, described the budget as a “good budget,” and said the Legislature “right sized the budget, invested in the state’s priorities, and reduced taxes on the middle class.”
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said “the Legislature reduced the Governor’s spending package by $2 billion, but was able to increase funding for special education programs by $100 million.
“All told, we’re spending more actual dollars on K-12 education than ever before in the state’s history,” according to Senator Fitzgerald.
