Representative Robin Vos, recently reelected Speaker of the Assembly, says dramatic tax cuts for all taxpayers will be a top priority when legislators return to Madison for the 2023-24 Session of the Legislature.
“I can’t see us doing a lower tax cut than we did last time,” said Representative Vos. Last session the Legislature enacted a $3.4 billion tax cut package which was signed into law by Governor Evers.
“As lawmakers prepare for the next budget battle, the $3.4 billion tax cut passed last session is the “absolutely bare bones bottom” of what Republicans will cut this session,” according to Speaker Vos.
A state budget surplus of $6.6 billion will provide the necessary funding and opportunity for another round of significant reductions in individual income tax rates. Some legislators are advocating moving Wisconsin toward a single flat tax rate, while others are pushing an agenda that would eliminate individual income taxes altogether.
Governor Evers will announce his budget proposal during an address to the Legislature on February 15, 2023. The budget covers taxes and spending through June 30, 2025.
State agencies have already submitted budget requests that would increase spending by $8.2 billion or 9.3 percent over the next two years, according to the Department of Administration.
Representative Mark Born, Co-chair of the powerful Joint Committee on Finance, says, “Republicans have a different tax and spending agenda than the agenda of the Governor.”
“The difference is in the amount he’ll want to spend is going to be higher than we would find reasonable,” Born said, “we’re looking at major tax cuts or tax reform, whatever you want to call it, to send money back to taxpayers that have been taxed too much.”
The Republican controlled Legislature will rewrite the Governor’s budget over the first several months of the new year, a process that will likely reduce the spending requests of state agencies.
The budget, which will be sent back to the Governor in June, covers spending and taxes from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2023.
