MADISON, Wis. — A months-long battle over tax cuts and child care funding continues between Republicans and Democrats as the majority party passed an alternative to the governor’s plan for addressing Wisconsin’s workforce shortage on Tuesday.
The conversations have been ongoing since August when Gov. Tony Evers called a special session on Wisconsin’s workforce and proposed spending nearly a billion dollars on several of his priorities.
Gov. Evers’ request had largely gone unanswered by Republicans, at least until Tuesday when Senate Republicans scrapped that package and passed a $2 billion income tax cut instead, which the governor had already vetoed in the past.
Democrats touted their plan Tuesday to return the state’s surplus in a way they said would be more meaningful by helping Wisconsinites make ends meet when it comes to expenses such as rent and child care.
“Are we going to put money in the pockets of our hardworking state residents immediately, or are we going to continue to play games,” State Sen. Brad Pfaff, D-Onalaska, asked during a press conference ahead of Tuesday’s floor session. “This plan is good for our families, it is good for our economy, it is good for our main street businesses and it is good for the state of Wisconsin.”
Republicans didn’t take any action during last month’s special session called by the governor, though they did hold a public hearing on his proposals, which included:
$365 million in new child care funding
$66 million in added funding for the state’s universities
$243 million for a paid family and medical leave program
$197 million for a new engineering building on UW-Madison’s campus
Democrats pushed for amendments Tuesday and called for more permanent solutions, including one to save a day care subsidy program known as Child Care Counts.
“We need the Legislature to step up to ensure that this program has the funds at previous levels and to take comprehensive action to ensure long-term existence of this vital industry in Wisconsin,” Minority Leader Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, added. “It’s a vital service for our friends and neighbors.”
Small business owners were at the Capitol on Wednesday to push back against several other child care proposals, which previously passed the Assembly, that they said will raise costs and lower the quality of care. Many who testified before a Senate committee during Wednesday’s public hearing called for fully funding the Child Care Counts program as the governor had proposed.
Republican Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu fired back to news this week that the governor would be using $170 million in federal pandemic relief money to keep the Child Care Counts program running through June 2025. Funds had been set to run out in January 2024.
“Gov. Evers vetoed the largest tax cut in state history and then spent months going around the state telling child care providers that they were going to have to close their doors when he could have used ARPA money to preserve Child Care Counts all along,” LeMahieu said in a statement.
Instead, Senate Republicans revived their plan Tuesday to cut income taxes from 5.3% to 4.4% for most earners and passed tax credits for families who pay for child care, as well as deductions for private school tuition.
GOP leaders told reporters this week they don’t want to play politics by tying the tax cut to the latest Brewers stadium deal passed by the Assembly.
“It is unlikely that Democrats are going to vote for a tax cut,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, explained. “We haven’t seen it yet. They haven’t voted to cut income taxes, they haven’t voted to cut property taxes, they certainly haven’t voted to cut retirement taxes, so if we tried to marry the two together, I doubt we would get Democrats to support it, and that could ultimately kill the deal for the Brewers.”
State Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, joined all Democrats in voting against the bill, which was sent to the state Assembly for approval.