The state budget and the taxes that help finance it have a huge impact on children and families. The budget provides most of the funding for vital government services, such as education, health care, transportation, child welfare and other safety net programs.
For more detailed analysis, visit the Wisconsin Budget Project website.
Ronald Reagan called the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) "the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress." Wisconsin's EITC, like the federal credit, has enjoyed broad bipartisan support, and it was signed into law by Governor Thompson. Nevertheless, a columnist speculates in the...
The “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act” (S. 3307) passed today in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill provides an additional $4.5 billion over 10 years to federal child nutrition programs and will be a significant first step in reducing childhood hunger and obesity. It will increase the reimbursement rates for school lunches, set...
As of today, it’s official: The program that provides federal benefits to long-term unemployed workers has expired. There’s hope for the program to be revived, but until then, long-term unemployed workers are getting no further help making ends meet.Read more about what this means for out-of-work Wisconsinites at the Wisconsin Budget...
Regressive Tax Swap Idea Dies a Speedy Death; Why Don’t I Feel Happy? At a public forum last week, Rick Chandler, a member of the Governor-elect’s transition team, floated the idea of increasing the sales tax by at least two cents – as part of a plan to pay for significant reductions in income and property taxes. The idea was declared...
New estimates were released today on the size of the budget deficit Wisconsin faces over the next biennium. The good news is that the figures are somewhat lower than other recent estimates. The bad news, and there's always bad news, is too long to list here. Check out the newest post on the Wisconsin Budget Project blog instead for more...
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