MADISON – A measure to send millions of dollars to schools, lower property taxes, eliminate taxes on tips and overtime and send checks back to taxpayers died late Wednesday after a pressure campaign from Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany and Democratic lawmakers killed the bill.
Tiffany and Democratic lawmakers found themselves in an unlikely alliance against a bipartisan deal brokered by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican leaders of the state Legislature.
The bill would have used the state’s projected $2.5 billion surplus to send tax rebate checks to all income tax filers, hundreds of millions of dollars to schools to pay for special education costs and to lower property taxes, and to eliminate taxes on overtime and tips.
Evers on Monday announced he’d reached a deal with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu on how to spend the state’s surplus after dozens of discussions over the last four months.
But Democratic candidates for governor and members of the Legislature met the proposal with swift, almost entirely unified backlash. And they found an unexpected ally in Tiffany, whose opposition and direct appeals peeled away enough Republican senators by Wednesday to ultimately kill the bill in the state Senate.
“Wisconsin’s kids and schools aren’t going to get the investments they desperately need this year because Tom Tiffany and a few Republican and Democratic lawmakers chose to blow up a bipartisan plan to invest in our K-12 schools, lower property taxes, and help working families afford rising costs, all because they’d rather do what’s best for the next election than what’s right for the people of our state,” Evers said in a statement.
“So many Wisconsinites feel left behind, frustrated, and disillusioned by politics these days because they think a lot of politicians in the Capitol are only here to serve themselves. And, today, they’re right,” said Evers, who, like Vos and LeMahieu, is not running for reelection.
The Senate voted down the bill 18-15 after leaders spent hours on Wednesday working to amend the bill to try to flip Republicans who planned to vote no. Three Republican senators joined Democrats to vote against the bill just before 10 p.m.
The state Assembly voted just before the Senate to approve the bill 61-32, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans to pass it.
Democratic lawmakers who opposed the bill said it was fiscally irresponsible because it used surplus funds that may be needed in the future.
“This is a completely reckless proposal stitched together in a backroom deal by three people who will not be running around and won’t be here when the consequences of a multi-billion dollar deficit come home to roost,” Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, said ahead of the floor vote.
Tiffany had spoken against the bill since its introduction, saying if elected in November he would deliver “LASTING relief, not just TEMPORARY gimmicks” and calling the income tax rebates “chicken feed compared to years of rising property taxes and utility bills.”
In response to Tiffany’s “chicken feed” comments on Tuesday, Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, co-chair of the Legislature’s budget committee, said Republican lawmakers needed “to work with the governor who’s here, because folks need help now.”
“These things are hitting our pocketbooks at home right now, and so we can’t wait for reinforcements. We can’t wait for a new governor. The surplus is here. The governor we have is here. We negotiated with him to help the taxpayers now. That’s what this bill does,” Born said.
The $1.8 billion spending package emerged two months after state lawmakers ended their regular session for the year and at a time when the cost of living has become central to Wisconsin voters’ decision-making ahead of the midterm elections, when control of the state Legislature and the governor’s office are up for grabs.
“For months, Senate Democrats have talked about the rising cost of living that Wisconsin families are facing. Today, they had an opportunity to act, and they said no. Against their own Governor,” Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, said in a statement after the vote.
In a statement after the vote, Hesselbein said Senate Democrats have introduced bills throughout the legislative session designed to make life more affordable for Wisconsinites, and continue to be “laser-focused on Wisconsin families who are struggling because of the chaos and skyrocketing costs in the Trump Economy.”
“When Democrats are in the majority, we will steer a course to a Wisconsin in which our economy works for all, where schools are sufficiently funded, and health care is affordable and accessible,” she said.
The legislation would have spent about $850 million on direct payments to income taxpayers, sending rebates of up to $300 to individual filers and up to $600 for married joint filers.
It would have also lowered property taxes by directing hundreds of millions in state funds to schools and technical colleges, reducing the funding burden on property taxpayers, and provided a record increase for special education funding by bringing the state’s reimbursement rate to 50% by the end of the 2027 fiscal year.
The deal also would have eliminated taxes on some tips and overtime.
Jessie Opoien and Molly Beck can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com and molly.beck@jrn.com.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tax relief, school funding bill dies under pressure from Tiffany, Dems
Reporting by Jessie Opoien and Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
