State Budget — do the right thing!

By Phil Neuenfeldt

Secretary-Treasurer

Wisconsin State AFL-CIO

Working families need elected officials who advocate for us. We need a state government that respects work and supports families. Our state legislature has a golden opportunity to respect and support working families during the current debate over the state budget.

The state budget is extremely tight. The new governor proposes the smallest spending increases in a long time. Yet the proposed budget would still result in a huge deficit unless the state sells its stake in the tobacco settlement for private investors. The investors would pay cash up front in return for a steep discount on expected revenue from the settlement. Any new initiatives money would require cuts in other parts of the budget or an increase in taxes.

The proposed budget does not contain any new initiatives for working families. There are no reductions in the number of students in the classroom for our children. There are no reductions in the cost of prescription drugs for our grandparents. There are no reductions in the cost of quality childcare for working parents. There are no reductions in the waiting lists for technical college programs that are in high demand.

The only new initiatives in the state budget are for corporations. The budget proposal would reduce corporate income taxes by $80 million; provide $100 million in tax credits to companies locating in technology zones (a fancy word for business parks). The proposed budget would even provide a $16 million tax break on ATMs. No one seriously believes that corporations are going to pick up and move their ATMs out of state if they don’t get a tax break. And even if they did, no one would care.

The big money lobbyists say that tax breaks are needed to help corporations create more jobs. But they never support corporate accountability to make sure the new jobs are actually created or they are actually family supporting jobs. They never consider how many employers complain they cannot find qualified workers to fill the jobs they already have. It would make more sense to provide education, training, childcare, and other services working families need to qualify for current job openings before we offer more tax breaks for jobs that may or may not be created, and may or may not be filled.

A tight budget is no excuse for setting the wrong priorities. Working families know a lot about tight budgets. We live with them every day. We know the importance of setting the right priorities. Our top priority is not more corporate tax breaks when there is no money left to provide medication for a widow who lives on only $13,000 a year.

A tight budget is no excuse for doing the wrong thing. The tight state budget is not a barrier to passing a wage lien law that puts working families ahead of bankers when a company goes bankrupt. The tight state budget does not justify opposing an increase in the minimum wage to lift working families on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder out of poverty. A tight budget is no excuse for supporting a Private Prison Industry program that allows for the relocation of job opportunities to leave society and be located behind prison walls.

The current state budget debate is an opportunity for working families to judge whether elected officials have our best interests at heart when the tough choices have to be made.

We should all be contacting our state legislators and say in one united voice, no more excuses. Do the right thing for working families.

Wisconsin Legislative Hotline

Toll Free 1-800-362-9472

Use this number to identify correct State Representative and State Senator as well as to leave messages for them on pending legislation.