• Ensure every Wisconsin family can afford groceries, so that hungry families can keep food on the table. At least 700,000 people from all 72 counties in Wisconsin are food insecure. Enough food to eat is the most basic of all human needs.
• Ensure affordable and accessible health care for all. Physical and mental health care is a human right and access to care is essential for a just society. No matter someone’s race, how much money they make, or where they were born, we all deserve comprehensive, affordable, quality health care. We know we have a long way to go, but lawmakers should advocate to expand access to affordable health care for all families.
• Protect access to affordable housing and expand pathways to homeownership. As the gap between housing costs and wages continues to widen and perpetuate poverty, access to affordable housing and pathways to homeownership are essential for Wisconsin families. 
• Improve access to affordable child care. Fully fund the successful Wisconsin government program that supports our early care and education workforce and increases the availability of child care statewide. Working families with young children need reliable and affordable early care and education options in order to contribute to a thriving Wisconsin economy. Children ages 0-5 deserve a great start in life that promotes early reading, healthy habits, brain development and readiness for kindergarten. It’s a win-win for everyone when we support both kids and their parents.
• Expand driver licenses for all. Repealing the 2005 WI Act 126 to extend driver licenses or state driver identification cards to all drivers, regardless of their immigration status, would allow people to commute to work more safely, increase economic opportunities for workers and their families, keep roads safe, and increase state revenue.
• Grant paid family & medical leave for all Wisconsin workers. Everyone has the right to take care of themselves and their family without fear of losing their job or putting food on the table. Paid leave provides crucial stability for families with new children, supports caregivers, improves health outcomes for parents and infants, and is an affordable way that businesses can support and retain high quality employees. 
• Prohibit policies that violate due process rights for immigrant communities. These agreements – known as 287(g) programs – disproportionately harm immigrant families by creating fear, family separation, and community distrust. Allowing local law enforcement to act as federal immigration agents diverts limited public resources away from community priorities and local economic growth. As a result, costs are shifted to local taxpayers, disrupting the workforce, and weakening family and community stability that are essential to a strong state economy.
• Oppose the expansion of legal financial obligations (LFOs). LFOs—sometimes referred to as fines and fees—are a punitive response to decreased revenue and inflation, which send financially vulnerable families into an economic spiral. Wisconsin should explore non-punitive ways to generate revenue and resist opportunities to expand LFOs such as fines and fees. 

• Overturn Act 10 and bring back union rights. Protecting workers’ rights to organize and collectively negotiate is critical for fostering sustainable wage growth, especially for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and rural communities who are consistently exploited. The legislature should overturn restrictions on public and private sector bargaining rights.
• Raise and enforce the minimum wage to a living wage of $20 per hour and index it to inflation. All workers deserve fair compensation to support their families. Securing a livable wage is essential for accessing basic necessities like housing, health care, transportation, child care, and education. Low wages maintain cycles of poverty and also mean workers have less power to bargain for better working conditions, wages, and benefits. 
• Strengthen the enforcement of wage theft laws. Each year, millions of dollars are earned by working families but stolen by employers. This issue disproportionately affects immigrant workers, who already face significant barriers to economic security. State government must have the power to penalize employers who steal from their workers or retaliate against them, and to inform employees when their employer is found to have committed wage theft against one of their coworkers. They also must intensify its focus on industries notorious for violations, collaborating closely with worker and immigrant advocates, and proactively pursue specific industries and locations. 
• Protect workers by strengthening the enforcement of worker misclassification. Misclassification occurs when employers and gig platforms illegally treat a worker as an independent contractor, denying them owed pay, benefits, overtime pay, safe working conditions, and many legal benefits like workers compensation. The legislature should allocate sufficient funding to investigate and punish unscrupulous employers. They can also support worker rights trainings and outreach resources for employers.  
• Establish fair workweek laws. Employers may put hourly workers on call with no promise that there will be work available for them, or send workers home early if demand has slowed. Families simply can’t get by if there isn’t some assurance of a regular paycheck. Fair workweek laws offer some stability for families by providing advance notice of their schedules; ability to request changes to schedules; compensation for last-minute schedule changes; at least 10 hours between a closing shift and opening shift; offer of additional hours before new employees are hired (part-time workers).
• Eliminate preemption laws. In the absence of state action, cities and counties should be allowed to pass their own strong labor, health and other standards. 

Make the Richest Pay Their Fair Share

• Increase taxes on the top one percent of Wisconsin earners. The top one percent of Wisconsin tax payers pay a smaller portion of their family income than anyone else, including the lowest 40 percent of earners who need the most support. Lawmakers should rightsize our tax system so the richest among us pay their fair share. 
• Eliminate special treatment for income earned from the sale of stocks, property, and other assets. Wisconsin is one of only nine states that provide a tax break for income derived from wealth, or long-term capital gains. The capital gains tax break tilts Wisconsin’s state income tax in favor of the wealthy, as capital gains are realized almost exclusively by the richest 20 percent of taxpayers.
• Adopt mandatory worldwide combined reporting standards. Wisconsin could have access to about $300 million in additional tax revenue by preventing multinational corporations from hiding their income overseas in tax shelters. Wisconsin is among the majority of states that require combined reporting nationwide so corporations can’t avoid taxes by shifting to other states. However, corporations can still use overseas tax havens to hide their profits. Wisconsin should adopt worldwide combined reporting standards to ensure that state taxpayers benefit from the income Wisconsin-based corporations generate. 

• Repeal or reduce the misleading and unfair manufacturers and agricultural tax credits. This slanted tax credit allows high earning manufactures and agricultural producers to pay nothing or next to nothing in income taxes, while lower earners, such as small family farms, barely benefit.

Tax Relief for Lower Income Families

• Expand refundable tax credits to provide direct relief for our lowest earners. Tax credits that primarily benefit working families should be refundable so the lowest income earning families get the support they need. The highest earners in Wisconsin pay about 4% less of their income in state and local taxes than the lowest earners. Last year, Wisconsin increased its Child and Dependent Care Credit, but because lawmakers chose not to make it refundable, lower-income earners were left out. Making more tax credits refundable is key to changing our tax system so it works better for working families.
• Increase tax credits that boost income and lower taxes for working families.
  • The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) reduces taxes or increases tax refunds for working parents with low and moderate incomes. The EITC provides evidence-based relief for families. Children whose families receive the EITC do better and go further in school. As adults, they are more likely to be in the workforce and earn higher wages. 
  • The Homestead Credit delivers targeted, refundable property tax relief to low-income households and helps seniors with low incomes afford to stay in their homes. The legislature should increase the size of the credit and adjust the eligibility ceiling to account for many years of erosion. They should also index the formula to inflation to ensure it automatically adjusts each year to maintain its value every year.