(The Center Square) – A handful of Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol are asking for a second chance to vote on the proposed tax deal that died last week.
Six Assembly Republicans sent a letter to Gov. Tony Evers, asking him to call another special session.
“We appreciate the progress made through those discussions, particularly efforts focused on returning surplus funds to taxpayers, providing property tax relief, supporting schools, and helping hardworking Wisconsinites manage rising costs. These are the kinds of issues where collaboration matters most. While we may not agree on every issue, we remain committed to working toward responsible outcomes and ensuring politics does not stand in the way of doing what is best for the people of Wisconsin,” Reps. Shannon Zimmerman, Todd Novak, Bob Donovan, Ben Franklin, Pat Snyder and Clint Moses wrote in the letter.
All six voted for the plan that would have sent tax rebates of up to $600 to Wisconsin taxpayers. The plan also would have ended income taxes on tips and overtime and given schools $300 million to “buy down” local property taxes.
Schools also would have gotten $300 million more for special education.
“Despite last week’s setback, we encourage you to call the Legislature back into Special Session to continue work on the common-sense reforms that received broad bipartisan support through months of negotiation. The failure of this legislation to advance does not change the reality that Wisconsin families are still facing rising costs and growing pressure on household budgets. We cannot allow political gamesmanship or ideological extremes on either side of the aisle to prevent meaningful progress on issues where common ground clearly exists,” the lawmakers added.
Evers, over the weekend, blamed politics for the tax deal’s demise. He said it was a “done deal” until Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany publicly criticized the deal.
Evers also blamed Democrats at the Capitol for the tax deal’s death.
“They believe that somehow putting money back into people’s pockets that are struggling financially across the state, apparently they don’t believe that’s an issue,” Evers said.
But Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate are not softening their opposition to the plan.
Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, who is also running for governor, on Monday said she remains a no vote.
“It’s never bad politics to do the right thing. We can’t afford to risk a $2.9 billion deficit with Trump hellbent on crashing our economy. We WILL fund schools & take pressure off property taxes, but can’t if they blow a projected (not existing) surplus & necessitate future cuts,” Roys wrote on X. Turning a *projected* (not existing) surplus into a $2.9b deficit as the Trump economy is in chaos is reckless.”
