Gov. Scott Walker delivered his 2014 State of the State address Wednesday night, promising to cut taxes and invest in education in order to create more jobs in Wisconsin.
The governor opened his fourth address on a chilly winter night with warm words from the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau that recently verified Wisconsin will have a surplus of $911 million more than previously calculated.
Walker said the surplus was a sign of economic recovery stemming from the creation of more jobs, resulting in an increase in personal income.
Citing increased growth across a multitude of industries, including tourism, agriculture and manufacturing, Walker put faces to numbers when he introduced several different groups of people who recently found employment.
Walker declared he exceeded his 2010 promise of creating 10,000 jobs and contrasted his success with the previous administration and said, “during my predecessor’s last term, Wisconsin lost more than 133,000 jobs and lost more than 27,000 businesses.”
Walker pledged to return the surplus to Wisconsinites’ pockets through a combination of tax cuts.
Walker’s “Blueprint for Prosperity” is a three-pronged plan aimed at lowering property taxes, income taxes and state withholdings for income taxes. The proposal is architectured to specifically target the lowest income tax bracket.
“It is vitally important to protect working families, senior citizens, farmers and small businesses,” Walker said.
In addition to his “Blueprint for Prosperity,” Walker announced increased funding for “Wisconsin Fast Forward,” a worker training grant program.
The additional $35 million will be invested in technological colleges, dual enrollment programs that are used to link high school students to technical colleges and a new disability job initiative.
The “A Better Bottom Line" initiative will focus on highlighting special needs citizens’ strengths and skills in order to place them into good paying and “meaningful” jobs, according to Walker.
State Assembly Minority leader, Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha and Senate Minority leader, Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee responded to Walker’s address on behalf of the Democratic Party, calling the governor's plan to invest in education and jobs after previously cutting funding, “short-sighted.”
Barca stressed the surplus was created in part due to “historic cuts” in public education and job training at technical colleges. He also said Walker failed to create jobs, explaining Wisconsin fell from 11th to 37th in job creation.
Mary Burke, the only current Democratic candidate for the 2014 gubernatorial election, said the projected surplus was a “rosy projection,” according to her statement.
The former Trek Bicycle executive outlined three ways she would spend Wisconsin’s surplus to “give every middle class family a fair shot.”
Burke said she would pay the state’s debt and add to Wisconsin’s rainy day fund, cut property taxes for the middle class and invest money in worker training programs for future jobs. She also said Walker’s plan “better serves” businesses rather than Wisconsin families.
The governor said his next step is to call Wisconsin’s legislature into special session to begin work on legislation to execute his “Blueprint For Prosperity,” and return the surplus money back to the people of Wisconsin.
