Scott Walker’s $2.2 billion deficit for the upcoming biennium and immediate shortfall of $283 million are results of a “self-inflicted wound” because the governor’s policies “dug a hole” in the state budget.
That’s according to several prominent budget analysts who offered assessments of the state’s fiscal situation in interviews with the Wisconsin State Journal. Former state Sen. Mike Ellis said that the state faces a deficit because “we dug a hole” with Walker’s election year tax cuts that primarily benefited top wage earners, an assessment both Jon Peacock of the Wisconsin Budget Project and Todd Berry of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance agreed with.
Peacock also commented that the state’s deficit is a “self-inflicted wound,” adding that the budget would be incredibly tough “for any lawmakers who don’t relish making deep cuts.”
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