Governor Evers has proposed a budget that removes barriers to driver licenses for undocumented immigrants, allows undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition, provides additional resources for English language learner services in K-12 schools, and creates a Latinx outreach specialist at the Department of Agriculture Trade and...
Promoting Racial Equity: A Central and Essential Theme of the Governor’s Budget
Download as PDF Introduction The events of the past year have made the deep, longstanding racial disparities in our nation much more obvious. The COVID-19 pandemic and the current recession have not only shined a light on those disparities, but have also made them much worse. On many different indicators, Wisconsin is at or very near...
The Governor’s Proposed Budget for K-12 Education Increases Support for Public Schools and Promotes Racial Equity
Governor Evers has proposed a budget that significantly increases aid for Wisconsin’s public schools, targets additional resources at identified needs, promotes racial equity, and limits the amount of public money that goes to private schools. The budget includes a $1.6 billion increase in total state support for public K-12 schools...
Governor Proposes Change to Boost Revenue and Improve Tax Equity
The Governor’s budget proposes significant changes in tax policy, including closing income tax loopholes that favor the rich and powerful, and increasing tax credits for low-income households. These changes enable the budget to make large investments that will improve our state’s long-term prosperity, while also creating a tax system...
Amend the CARES Act So More Parents Receive Stimulus Checks
The recently developed federal stimulus package known as the CARES Act put in place an unprecedented amount of financial support for many workers who filed taxes in the United States. One component of the benefit is a $1,200 payment that goes to many adult federal tax filers. However, some groups have been excluded from this stimulus...
Evers Proposes Investments in Public Assistance to Cushion the Health and Economic Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic is creating severe economic hardship for many Wisconsinites, and especially for those who were already furthest from opportunity. It has helped reveal the stark disparities in our nation, particularly for people of color, because it has amplified the disparities and has given them potentially fatal consequences. To...
A Decade After Historic Cuts, Wisconsin Still Hasn’t Fully Restored State Aid for Public School Districts
Despite recent increases, Wisconsin’s public K-12 school districts still receive less in state aid than they did a decade ago, prior to historic cuts to education. During that timeframe, state lawmakers chose to pass large tax cuts instead of investing the money in local schools. Lawmakers are also increasingly diverting resources...
With the State Going Back on Its Commitment to Communities, Local Governments are Pushed to Consider Regressive Tax and Fee Increases
For our economy to work for everyone, Wisconsin needs to invest in strong communities across the entire state. But Wisconsin has gone back on its commitment to providing resources to local governments, forcing counties, cities, and towns to implement taxes and fees that fall most heavily on residents with the lowest incomes. While state...
Missed Opportunities to Support Wisconsin Families: W-2 Caretaker of Newborns Extension
This is the first blog in a series about some of the legislature’s Missed Opportunities to Support Wisconsin Families stemming from the Joint Finance Committee’s decision to remove public assistance program recommendations from the budget bill. Establishing a close bond with a parent or caretaker is crucial for a baby's future...
Missing Out: Residents with Low Incomes Pay More Under New Budget
State tax policies can be a powerful tool for expanding opportunity and enhancing racial and ethnic equity. But right now, Wisconsin’s tax system calls on the richest residents to pay the smallest share of their income in taxes and requires residents with low and moderate incomes to pay more than their fair share. Governor Evers...
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