The Wisconsin state Assembly approved two bills Monday proposed by Gov. Scott Walker in the year’s first Assembly special session.
Walker’s bills aim to cut income taxes and award grants to technical colleges as an investment in future jobs. The governor requested the Assembly debate the bills in a special session as part of his “Blueprint for Prosperity.”
Republicans such as state Rep. Adam Neylon, R-Pewaukee, supported the bills for their tax cut initiative and investment in technological colleges.
“The people in my district want lower taxes, and I work for them,” Neylon said.
Assembly Democrats opposed the bill on the grounds that not only do the tax cuts increase Wisconsin’s structural deficit, but they also give the most relief to the wealthiest tax brackets.
State Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, said according to the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, the bottom 20 percent of citizens are receiving 5 percent of the tax cut while the top 1 percent are receiving 7 percent of the total tax cuts.
Taylor assured the Assembly she has nothing against the wealthy but said trickle down economics does not work and will not help the middle and lower classes.
State Rep. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, disagreed with Taylor and said the tax relief was fair relative to what different tax brackets pay into the system.
Additionally, state Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, said the state’s $977 million surplus should be spent to pay down the state’s debt and put into Wisconsin’s rainy day fund. Berceau called Walker’s tax plan a “smoke and mirrors tax break” and asked the Legislature for further debate before voting on the bill.
Democrats argued an accountability amendment should be added to the technical college grant bill, so the money would be spent responsibly, but the amendment was tabled.
The bills will now move to the State Senate.
