Primarily by rolling back tax cuts proposed by legislative Republicans, partial budget vetoes by Gov. Tony Evers leave the state with a projected $4 billion surplus according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
From Wisconsin Public Radio: In the end, Republicans gave Evers less than half of what he wanted for public schools and zeroed out other programs altogether. And Evers used his partial veto to reject a GOP income tax cut for the state’s top two brackets. The end result leaves lawmakers and the governor with some of the same choices they faced when the budget debate began earlier this year.
The trick is, they still have to agree.
In his veto message to lawmakers, Evers suggested that by eliminating the bulk of the GOP tax cut, he had preserved enough funding for a budget do-over. “I am giving the Legislature a second chance,” Evers wrote. “I am using my broad, constitutional veto authority to ensure ample state resources are readily available for the Legislature to complete their work on this budget—to do the right thing, to rise to meet this moment of historic opportunity and responsibility, and to focus on passing real solutions for the urgent challenges facing our state.”
“That is never going to happen,” said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, during an appearance last week on WISN-AM. “We’re not going to all of a sudden decide to spend the money.”
Barring some kind of agreement, those billions would stay in the state’s coffers until the next budget debate begins in 2025.
Read More: WPR: Evers’ budget vetoes leave state with projected $4B surplus
