President Obama ran on the coattails of the buzzword change."" After unveiling his two-year budget plan for Wisconsin, Gov. Jim Doyle is pushing his budget on the tagline of ""sacrifice.""
In a very controversial portion of Doyle's proposed budget, he proposed a new tax bracket for the top 1 percent of residents, a move that would raise their taxes by $312 million over two years. In addition, Doyle also proposed an increased income tax on individuals making more than $225,000 a year and couples making more than $300,000 a year. Although Doyle said Wisconsinites must share ""the sacrifice,"" the ""we"" portion seems to translate to the middle and upper classes. Even though wealthier members of the state may be able to handle tax increases, the effect on smaller businesses may be an issue Doyle will have to address down the road.
Doyle also sent conflicting messages about his earlier convictions on education during the State of the State address in January, especially with the proposed funding in the new budget.
""I will not allow cuts that ruin the quality of our classrooms or make universities and technical colleges out of reach for working families,"" Doyle said in the January address.
However, his proposed budget does not include any increased federal support to UW System colleges, choosing instead to feed the funds into K-12 schools only. The plan also includes a cut of $174 million over two years for the UW System. If Doyle considers this an effective measure to make Wisconsin universities and technical colleges available for working-class families, he is sadly mistaken. Even if Doyle is able to appropriate more funds for financial aid, an almost certain rise in tuitions around the UW System and a sustained economic recession essentially price out many families.
In addition, Doyle proposed a 75-cent cigarette-tax increase in the budget, following a $1-per-pack increase enacted in January 2008. The proposed increase would allegedly raise an additional $290 million over the next two years.
However, we cannot help but remain skeptical. The last time Doyle and the Wisconsin Legislature relied on a cigarette tax in the budget projections, their numbers were millions short. Also, Doyle included a state-wide smoking ban along with his budget proposal. If passed, the ban would cripple the estimated total revenue from the cigarette tax. Although we support most forms of sin tax in the state, Doyle cannot assume such taxes are going to reach their estimated totals, especially if he does it simply to curb smoking. With the public-relations nightmare Wisconsin's alcoholism has become, perhaps a larger alcohol tax is needed.
Doyle also proposed some wise budgetary decisions that transcend cost. Doyle's proposed budget allows state workers and UW-Madison employees to add their partners, regardless of sexual orientation, to state health-insurance coverage plans. Doyle described the added cost as ""modest,"" but any cost to bring the university and state up to standard in equality is money well spent.
Doyle's proposed budget focuses on carefully thinning the ""basic expectations"" of government - such as education, safety and health care - as to still provide effective services. Although we applaud Doyle for keeping these sacrifices to a minimum, we question whether his all-encompassing ""sacrifice"" by all Wisconsinites is entirely accurate, and whether his projections account for the uncertain effects of upper-class tax bumps and cigarette tax hikes.
