One of the most disappointing things about Wisconsin’s 2013-15 budget bill is that it shifts state resources from low-income Wisconsinites to the those who are very well off. As I said about a month ago in a long Q and A format interview in the Capital Times, the bill employs a “Robin Hood in reverse” strategy for allocating resources.
The Wisconsin Budget Project issued a two-page paper this week explaining the top ten reasons for concluding that the new budget shifts resources from the poor to the rich. If you would prefer a more condensed explanation, see yesterday’s Budget Project blog post.I think the clincher is that the budget builds up the General Fund balance – thereby paving the way for income tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy – by siphoning off money from the federal block grant known as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The decision to divert those funds was based in part on an unrealistic assumption that Wisconsin Works (W-2) participation would decline sharply, even though it has actually been increasing. In fact, W-2 enrollment was 8% higher in June than the budget assumed.
The budget maneuvers that shift the federal TANF funds (so they can ease the way for tax cuts) are also justified by a $31 million cut in the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program. As a result of that cut, the state is squandering an opportunity to use the savings to make long overdue investments in the quality of early education.
Read more about those regressive choices and others in the Budget Project’s short paper or blog post.
Jon Peacock
