Touting tax cuts and increased funding for education, Gov. Jim Doyle claimed Tuesday night that his two-year ""opportunity budget"" would take the squeeze off middle-class families and college-bound Wisconsinites. Doyle did not, however, mention where he intended to plant the money trees that will fund the tax cuts and university aid.
Doyle's ""opportunity budget"" speech inspired countless laughs and standing ovations—the only boos came in response to California's encroachment on the cheese industry. Yet overall, Doyle avoided tough issues regarding the pending $1.6 billion budget shortfall effective July 1.
Among the new tax cuts, Doyle announced deductions for families who cover the entire cost of their health insurance, another for families with children in day care, an extended deduction for families with children in college, and a tax exemption for all 2006 Social Security income effective in 2008.
Based on these proposals, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau pegs the estimated revenue loss from Doyle's proposed tax cuts at $100 million. This deficit, in addition to several high-cost initiatives proposed Tuesday, portends a worsening budget situation.
We encourage Doyle's eagerness to fund experimentation with ethanol, extend and simplify access to BadgerCare, support the UW System and keep Wisconsin's tax burden at its lowest level in 35 years.
But Doyle, show us the money. The only way to bridge the widening gap between cash coming in and flowing—dare we say pouring—out means slashing other budgets or raising other taxes.
Of course, we welcome Doyle's plan to restore $225 million to the UW System and feel confident in his commitment to education—a pledge he continuously reiterated throughout his address. Doyle's 2005-2007 budget laid the groundwork for relieving burdensome, increasing tuition costs and we hope the new ""opportunity budget"" holds tuition to the promised 4-percent level.
Overall, Doyle's budget makes four basic assumptions about possible sources of revenue. First, it expects more money from the Feds for Medicaid. It also depends on a reduction in state agency budgets, but whether this will hurt government agencies or increase efficiency is yet unknown. Third, it depends on a substantial boon from improving state agency and operating efficiency. Finally, Doyle's budget depends on revenue from his proposed cigarette tax. These sources may prove lucrative, but the budget requires further dissection and detail to predict feasibility.
Doyle closed his speech with an appeal to bipartisanship, urging lawmakers to ""resolve differences, come together and do what we must ... so that this great state always supports their great dreams."" If Doyle's budget prevails in the Legislature, it will indeed take a unified force of lawmakers to turn over Wisconsin's couch pillows and turn up the money to fund his ""opportunity budget.""
