GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Governor Evers made a brief stop in Green Bay this morning on the heels of his State of the State address in Madison last night. He announced the state is projected to have a $3.8 billion budget surplus this tax season.
“The people in wisconsin have been extraordinarily resilient during this pandemic," said Evers. "And we've really worked hard to be really thoughtful and strategic with the federal money that we're using. And as a result of that, we're in a position of strength.”
However, republicans don’t think democrats can take all the credit for Wisconsin’s historically positive balance.
“It's really ironic," said Shae Sortwell, representative for Two Rivers. "You remember back in school, when you'd be on a group project. There always would be that kid that didn't do anything for the project, but they'd sign their name at the end of it and then try to claim full credit for it. That's what governor Evers is trying to do with the financial state of Wisconsin. It's incredible.”
Evers released $4.5 million for pandemic relief over the past two years, and people spent that money in the local economy. The credit belongs to Wisconsinites, said Evers.
“To me, this transcends politics in a way, if that's humanly possible," he said. "Frankly, I don't care who gets the credit on this. It's just, it's real simple. We have excess money, that excess money came from the people Wisconsin.”
In Evers' proposal, everyone gets $150; that means a family of four gets $600. More than 100,000 Wisconsinites would get an average of $274 back under the Child and Dependent care credit. Evers also proposed ceating a $100 million Caregiver Tax Credit for approximately 370,000 Wisconsinites, investing $750 million to improve education quality while keeping property taxes down, expanding the National Guard’s wellness office to help with resiliency training, crisis intervention, and counseling for members who have been under the longest activation in state history, creating a Blue Ribbon Commission on Veteran Opportunity to support the more than 300,000 veterans in the state access education, employment, and job training, expanding Emergency Medical Services with a nearly $30 million investment for the nearly 800 EMS providers across the state, including $20 million for rural communities and granting a $15 million fund for additional mental health services that any school in the state can access
“Wisconsinites can't wait," said Evers. "Legislators shouldn't sit in Madison on state coffers that are filled and then at the same time, tell Wisconsinites who are working really hard every day that they can't afford to do more. That's just baloney.”
Some things both parties can agree on.
“I'm always in favor of tax cuts," said Sortwell. "I mean, we passed billions of dollars in tax cuts when he proposed tax hikes. So I'm always in support of that. I think if we're going to have a tax cut, then we ought to talk about permanent tax.”
The unemployment rate is 2.8 percent, the lowest in state history, said Evers.
"Let's find common ground," he said. "Let's pass this plan. Let's get it done. It's just the right thing to do, folks, and it's the people's money. Let's get back to them.”
The governor signed an executive order this morning to bring legislature back to session in March to move his plan forward.
