Wisconsin state Rep. Mark Born, right, and state Sen. Howard Marklein explain Republicans' decision to cut funding for state building projects requested by Gov. Tony Evers, during a news conference in the state Capitol, Thursday, June 1, 2023, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)

Heading into the year, the state of Wisconsin was presented with an historic opportunity. The state would be entering its biennial budget cycle with the largest surplus in state history — about $7 billion. 

There’s a lot Wisconsin could do with $7 billion, with many potential paths forward. This is a state with serious, pressing issues that need to be addressed and can be addressed through the opportunity presented in this budget.

Throughout last year’s midterm election campaign, the surplus was a topic that came up often, from the top-of-the-ticket gubernatorial race between Gov. Tony Evers and Republican nominee Tim Michels, down through the 116 races on the ballot in the Wisconsin State Legislature. 

Evers won that race for governor, of course. He won by a larger margin in 2022 than he did when he ousted Scott Walker in a tight race in 2018. So, it stands to reason that Evers would have the opportunity to advance the policies that he campaigned on to be reelected.

But while Evers won a second term, Republicans retained majority control of both the Senate and Assembly. So, with divided government, this year’s budget process was bound to have its challenges.

The governor presented his budget proposal in February, but the typical process was a bit delayed this year because of the April 4 Spring Election that featured the high-profile, all-on-the-line race for Wisconsin Supreme Court (liberal candidate Janet Protasiewicz in a double-digit landslide victory.) It wasn’t until May when Republicans in the legislature finally took action on the budget — axing more than 540 proposals in a single vote, on many policies that have broad and often bipartisan support. 

As they’ve done in prior budgets in this period of divided government, Republicans essentially rebuilt the budget from scratch, eschewing even the most meager attempts at bipartisanship in the process. And what they’ve constructed in its place is an abhorrent budget that fails on so many levels. 

Despite this once-in-a-generation surplus, Republicans have built a budget that completely misses the mark and makes critical cuts on top priority issues, squandering a generational opportunity for the state. 

The Republican-authored budget actually cuts funding for the University of Wisconsin System, cancels the University of Wisconsin’s top building project (a new building for the College of Engineering) and pushes to eliminate the system’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) budget. 

Overall, the budget spends significantly less than what Gov. Evers had proposed, with the largest cuts to his budget proposal going to the Department of Health Services, Department of Public Instruction, Department of Administration, Public Service Commission and Department of Children and Families. Republicans removed proposed funding for the Office of School Safety.

They blocked funding to start a paid family leave program. They denied a proposal to extend health coverage to a full year postpartum for mothers at lower incomes. They cut a $750 million proposal for rural broadband. It changes the way public transit would be funded in future budgets, putting funding for buses and other mass transit on the chopping block. As part of that initial wave of cuts, they blocked marijuana legalization, eliminated funding for lead pipe replacement, said no to providing free meals at schools and also blocked Medicaid expansion (for the gazillionth time). 

Perhaps the most egregiously despicable move of the budget cycle happened when — in a 2:30 a.m. vote — eliminated all of the $340 million the governor had budgeted to extend the Child Care Counts program. Without this funding, a new study shows, more than 2,000 child care centers are projected to close, directly impacting more than 87,000 children. Providers and advocates have since held a rally at the Capitol and are now considering organizing a strike in response to this action. Organizers say 1,000 child care centers could close within the next six-to-nine months. 

And to what end? What is the end goal of eliminating all of these investments in child care, higher education, health care and more? What possible purpose could it be that is so important that it supersedes these critical issues? We’ll give you one guess, and that’s probably all you’ll need.

That’s right, it’s a tax cut. One that disproportionately benefits the wealthiest Wisconsinites. What a shock.

Last fall, during the campaign, President Barack Obama campaigned in Milwaukee. And within that speech, he essentially predicted what would happen this year. Because Republicans have just one economic policy: tax cuts for the wealthy. 

Watch him explain:

“That’s their answer to everything,” he said of Republican policy on tax cuts for the wealthy. “When inflation is low, what do you want to do? Cut taxes. When unemployment is high, what do you want to do? Let’s cut taxes on the wealthy… If there was an asteroid headed toward Earth… and you went into the Republican caucus and said, ‘What do you want to do?’, [they’d say], ‘We need a tax break for the wealthy!’ I’m only barely exaggerating. It’s their only economic policy. The only one. And it’s been the only one for the last 20 years. It’d be nice if for every problem you had, you just had one answer.”

Wisconsin Republicans did indeed come back with their one answer to everything, proposing a $3.5 billion tax cut, targeting the largest cut to those in the top tax bracket, even as they introduced it as a “middle class tax plan.” The biggest cut would be to those making more than $300,000 for single filers, and the state’s four tax brackets would be shrunk down to three. While Republicans said the tax proposal will provide an average savings of $573 per year, the Wisconsin Examiner reports that fewer than 20% of tilers will see that high of a tax break and notes that almost three-quarters of Wisconsin residents have incomes of $100,000 or less. Democratic state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) shared data showing that 11 individuals who make more than $75 million would get more than $1.8 million back every year. This is not a policy targeted at the state’s middle class. 

That tax cut is the highlight of Republicans’ unbelievably bad budget. They took a generational opportunity to make investments in the future of the state and are instead trying to give it away to the wealthiest Wisconsinites, while ignoring critical needs.

It stands in stark contrast to the budget just passed by our neighbors in Minnesota, who entered this budget cycle with a $17.5 billion surplus and made tremendous investments in the state’s future, including free school meals for children, paid family and medical leave, a Child Tax Credit, rebate checks for many, a $750 million investment in child care and increases in funding for public education, workforce and economic expansion. 

Gov. Tony Evers now faces a choice. He could veto the budget in its entirety, or as he’s done in both budgets from his first term, he could utilize powerful partial veto powers unique to the office in Wisconsin. But while those could take the most objectionable aspects out of the budget, he can’t re-add things like funding for UW or child care that had been eliminated. Also looming is the June 30 deadline, the time for which a budget needs to be passed, otherwise funding levels revert to the previous budget. If the governor does veto the full budget, legislative leaders would have to come back this fall to put together something new. 

Critically, too, in the midterm elections, legislative Democrats in Wisconsin blocked Republicans from gaining a full two-thirds supermajority in the state legislature, which would have given them the ability to override the governor’s veto. 

With the option to veto the budget without the threat of an override, and with this budget being pushed so far to the right by leaders like Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a full veto has to be something the governor is considering.

Votes in the state Senate are scheduled for Wednesday, but GOP leaders have said they don’t anticipate making major changes before it passes. That’s too bad. Because this is not a good budget. It does not deliver what’s needed for the state of Wisconsin or what voters have been asking for. 

A huge budget surplus is an opportunity to do things that have a transformative impact for the state of Wisconsin. Democratic leaders in Minnesota recognized their opportunity and acted decisively, putting their state on a trajectory for a better future. Republican leaders in Wisconsin are doing the opposite, returning to the same failing policies that didn’t work for the state throughout the 2010s, and pushing critical services closer to crisis points. 

Wisconsin deserves much better than the budget Republicans have crafted.

Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s also written for The Daily Beast, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He’s won 13 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.