LFB Papers Reinforce Our Concerns about W-2 Shortfall and EITC Shell Game

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB), if the growth in W-2 participation in recent months is followed by a slightly slower rate of decline than the budget bill assumes, W-2 spending could exceed the reduced level recommend by the Governor by $30 million over the next two fiscal years.  That’s one of several alternatives that the Joint Finance Committee is expected to consider on Tuesday, May 21, when it acts on the Department of Children and Families (DCF) budget.

The LFB papers reinforce concerns raised several weeks ago by the Wisconsin Budget Project in an issue brief about the federal funding being siphoned away from programs supporting low-income families.  A new Wisconsin Budget Project Blog post summarizes the latest information about the substantial underfunding of W-2 in the budget bill, and how that problem can be remedied by not transferring so much funding from the TANF block grant to the Department of Revenue.

Jon Peacock