Gov. Scott Walker's budget includes tax cuts, halt to east-west I-94 plan
MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker readied for a rough re-election race with Wednesday's budget proposal, rolling ahead with $593 million in tax and fee cuts and more money for state workers, schools and the University of Wisconsin System.
In the two-year, $76.1 billion budget bill, the governor is keeping the brakes on road funding, abandoning Milwaukee's massive I-94 east-west project and bracing for a collision with his fellow Republicans over state highway funding. He also would overhaul state employee insurance, release some nonviolent inmates early and fully repeal special minimum pay rates for workers on public building projects.
But elsewhere, Walker made clear his intent to win a third term by driving just as far as he can on a modest state surplus and his own lagging poll numbers. The governor's budget would dole out $203 million in broad income tax cuts; $22 million for a sales tax holiday; and nearly $340 million in property tax cuts.
Overall, Walker is partly undoing many of the cuts he made in 2011 to close a state budget shortfall, including offering state workers 2% raises for each of the next two years.
Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/08/gov-scott-walker-wants-restore-some-his-past-cuts-wisconsin-schools-and-universities/97608986/
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