(The Center Square) – There’s not a lot of hope among Republican lawmakers that the latest tax cut package in Wisconsin will become law.
The Wisconsin Assembly took up its tax cut plan Tuesday.
The proposals would lower income taxes for families making less than $150,000 a year, make retirement tax free for most Wisconsin retirees, expand Wisconsin’s child care tax credit and provide more tax relief for married couples.
Majority Leader Tyler August, R-Lake Geneva, said the latest proposal is smaller than the Republican’s original plan, but is what Gov. Tony Evers has asked for.
“If you look at the veto messages that the governor continues to put out, we have put billions and billions of dollars of tax cuts on his desk over the last six-years-plus,” August told reporters Tuesday. “He continues to say things like, ‘oh I want a middle-class tax cut.’ That’s exactly what this package is.”
August and Assembly Republicans said the idea is to give Wisconsin’s $3 billion-plus budget surplus back to the people.
“Today we are voting on a $2.1 billion tax cut package in the Assembly. We have a massive budget surplus, and that money should go back to the people,” Rep. Rick Gundrum, R-Slinger, said.
Still, August said he’s not confident the governor will agree.
“I’m a little skeptical, because he seems to only sign tax cuts when it’s election time and he’s not up this year,” August added. “But, yeah, I’m an eternal optimist. I’m sure he’ll see the value in these. It delivers the middle class tax cut. And I’m fully confident that he can and should sign it.”
Evers has said he hasn’t seen the specifics and hasn’t made any promises to sign it or veto it.
