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6/26/2009
Sen. Fitzgerald: Final budget will cripple Wisconsin
Wisconsin is facing a massive budget deficit, high unemployment, and a crippling recession. At a time when our state needs to create jobs, the Democrats are killing them. They are haphazardly increasing taxes and fees that will harm our state and threaten its future financial and economic health. The Legislature’s main priority should be growing jobs and reducing the tax burden on Wisconsin working families. As we have seen throughout this session, Governor Doyle and legislative Democrats have a damaging set of guiding principles.
According to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the budget that passed the state Senate includes a $4 billion or 6.8% spending increase. Combined with the budget adjustment bill that was passed in February, Democrats increased taxes and bonding by $5 billion dollars already this year. Families will pay for these measures through higher taxes on items from cell phones, gasoline, and garbage to hospital care and property taxes.
Property taxes are estimated to rise by $1.5 billion. On a median value home, it will result in a $90 increase in the first year and a $130 increase in the second year. At a time when families and employers are struggling to stay afloat during this recession, Wisconsin Democrats want to tax them even more. How is this going to help our state create and retain jobs? Even with all of the new taxes, Democrats guaranteed that the state will start the next budget with a $2.3 billion hole.
Wisconsin had the fifth highest number of mass layoffs in the nation in March and April of this year. We just received word today that 1,500 GM jobs will be going to Michigan, not Janesville. We’re worried about other states courting some of Wisconsin’s other major employers. With the tax increases that the Democrats are putting in place in this budget, we will see even more employers heading for the state line.
This budget has been concocted entirely by the Democrats behind closed doors without Republican input. Republicans in the Assembly offered over 130 amendments to improve the budget and Senate Republicans offered over 30 amendments. Almost no Republican improvements were accepted by the Democrats.
The conference committee process this week made a mockery of open government. We received the Democrats’ secret deal minutes before we were expected to vote on it. This sham of a meeting was an insult to the citizens of Wisconsin. Everyone knows that the entire budget was cooked behind closed doors without input from anyone except for a handful of Democrat legislators.
Our state is left with an irresponsible mess that increases spending, raises taxes, and kills jobs. It will result in more layoffs and add to our already high number of unemployed workers. Those who will be left bearing the burden of this budget are Wisconsin employers and working families.
Scott Fitzgerald is the Senate Republican Leader and represents the residents of the 13th Senate District
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• Join the blaze orange army and say ‘Enough is Enough’
• The future of government-run health care
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• Talk health reform with Feingold (Th), Petri (today)
• Give the Mayor power over MPS - if he can break contracts
• Burri: Yup, Dems really are going to bypass a conference
• The $2.7 billion Wisconsin deficit no one told you about
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• Rahmlow: Why is Van Hollen dodging the Nebraska deal?
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| 2009 |
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• The Lawton-Bader files
• Yup, it’s the TAX LEVY, not the tax RATE
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• The subsidy game
• Burri: Bailouts, Banks, Health Care, and the Mob
• Attend Appleton Schools budget meeting tonight
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• Public Conservation and Recreation Lands Total 16.5% of State
• In the crow's nest of the Titanic, shouting 'Iceberg!'
• Is Rep. Nelson a political hack?
• Health care: The road ahead will be brutal
• Kagen's pandering again
• Birthers - good stuff for you
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• The trouble with health care is paying for it
• Two-parent families: The Gold Standard
• Burri: Kids... the joys and blessings
• Very, very worried about health care
• Rep. Huebsch: Wisconsin is proof government health care isn’t the answer
• School district contracts push up tax levy
• What? Obama, the Peace Prize?
• TODAY - hearing on Campaign Finance Reform
• Appleton School District tax levy up way too much
• CBO report is out - and the bill isn't even written yet?
• So, how much do YOU budget for health care?
• Burri: Copenhagen trip was amateurish
• “Sotomayor, you have blood on your hands...”
• Cap and Trade. Always follow the money
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• Important votes Tuesday, including Appleton Common Council
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• From Mark Gundrum: One of the greatest honors an American can experience
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• Joe Martin the best candidate in Appleton's 8th
• State programs to cut? - Volume II
• Oh the naivete of youth
• Not just disingenuous - flat wrong
• Steve - you will be missed
• Make cuts only AFTER you're elected....
• Getting serious: What programs can we cut?
• Rep. Steve Kagen joining me on Jerry Bader Show today
• Rep. Van Roy: Dental Care Pilot Program
• Has Dave Obey turned the corner on earmarks?
• Speaker Huebsch: Governor turns down Federal Aid?
• Mark Rahmlow: "We're Broke."
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• First suggestion for 'slashing' programs
• Big money-saver for municipalities
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• Any chances???
• I'm doing the Jerry Bader Show, today, the 11th
• Representative Frank Lasee: Final Waltz of the Season
• Guest Blog: It's not the county's business to be in the nursing home business
• Yup, Hillary won Texas and Ohio
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• Lots of ideas. No money.
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• Kagen and Reagan in the same breath?
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• Any way you slice it, Wisconsin government wants (further) in on health care
• The World is Flat...what about health care?
• The PAC - too precious to fail. Day 3
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• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail - Day 2
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail
• New Transit Tax coming your way
• Rep. Petri has his finger in the dike - I guess
• AASD Retirement Costs Burdensome
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