In what has become the standard way that Scott Walker’s administration tries to bury bad news, Scott Walker’s administration last week reported that tax revenues continue to fall short of projections, the latest proof that Walker’s irresponsible and short-sighted tax cuts for those who need them least aren’t working for Wisconsin families.
The Wisconsin State Journal is reporting that, according to figures released by the Department of Revenue, “tax collections from July 1 through June 2 totaled $11.6 billion, or 0.4 percent less than the same period last year. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau projected 1 percent growth in tax collections for the fiscal year, which ends Monday.”
The drop comes on top of Walker’s most recent budget, which spent a projected surplus into a deficit with a series of lopsided, top-heavy tax cuts based on rosy assumptions in a cynical ploy to distract voters from his worst-in-the-Midwest job growth.
Meanwhile, needed investments in education, infrastructure and job training went under-served, only worsening prospects for Wisconsin’s floundering economic growth that trails the national average and an education system that trails only Alabama in cuts to per-pupil funding.
“Scott Walker should know by now that he can’t cover up dismal economic figures or the scandal du jour by releasing bad news late on a Friday afternoon,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Monday. “Everyone wants to reduce the tax burden on Wisconsin’s middle-class, but irresponsible giveaways that we can’t afford aren’t the way to create jobs and grow a prosperous economy.”
