by Benjamin Yount
Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol aren’t yet on the same page about tax reform in the new year, but they are in almost total agreement on new state spending.
Senate President Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, told Matt Kittle on News Talk 1130 WISN on Tuesday that the Republicans who control the state legislature are still talking about what to do with Wisconsin’s record $6.6 billion surplus, and calls for tax reform.
“There’s no consensus at this point yet,” Kapenga explained. “We just know, in Republican circles, that there has to be tax reform. Because we can’t keep taking so much out of people’s paychecks when we don’t need it.”
Kapenga said he would rather see Wisconsin eliminate its income tax rather than move to a flat tax.
“If we’re going to do this, and we’re going to do something bold, and we really want to attract more workers to the state, going to no income tax will set us apart in the Midwest,” Kapenga said.
Republicans have enough votes to pass tax reform and draft a new state budget on their own, but they don’t have enough votes to override a veto from Gov. Tony Evers.
That means some negotiations in the coming year. Kapenga said he isn’t expecting much.
“[The governor] hears it a lot where people are saying ‘We wish people would work closer together in the different branches of government.’ So he throws little soundbites out,” Kepenga added. “But the reality is he’s met one time with me in the last two years. I’ll be surprised if we have another meeting.”
While Kapenga says Republicans are not yet sure about tax reform, he said they are all but certain they won’t give Gov. Evers more money to spend on state government.
“Gov. Evers is not an operational efficiency type of guy,” Kapenga said. “He had significant dollars given to him through the federal stimulus. And we saw the quality of operation in state government decline significantly, especially in a couple of areas like licenses and unemployment insurance. So we know that more money does not equate to a higher quality of services.”
Gov. Evers’ first two proposed state budgets would have raised taxes by $1 billion each, and would have raised state spending by billions more.
The governor is not saying what his next state budget proposal will look like, though Kapenga expects the governor to ask for more money once again.
“He is going to come to the trough,” Kapenga added. “Basically, I think he’s going to try and take taxpayer money and sift it out to the different special interest groups that he wants to take care of.”
The governor is scheduled to present his budget in February.
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Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Chris Kapenga” by Senator Chris Kapenga. Background Photo “Wisconsin Capitol Building” by Yinan Chen.
