Evers signs GOP-written state budget with $2B tax cut

WHITEFISH BAY, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers signed the Republican-written state budget Thursday, enacting a two-year spending plan that includes a $2 billion income tax cut while making 50 largely minor partial vetoes, saying unfinished business still needs to be addressed.

The budget will also cut property taxes for the owner of an average home by $100 next year, ends a University of Wisconsin tuition freeze in place for eight years, increases salaries for state employees and basically holds K-12 funding flat.

Evers also announced that schools will be receiving $100 million more in federal funds to use as they wish.

Both Evers, who signed the budget, and the Republicans who wrote and passed it took credit for the tax cut made possible by a revenue surplus.

Evers, a Democrat who is running for reelection next year, cast it as a bipartisan effort even though the tax cut was added to the budget by Republican lawmakers. Only seven Democrats out of 49 voted for the budget. Evers' original budget would have raised taxes, primarily on manufacturers and the wealthy, by more than $1 billion.

“I could have vetoed that," Evers said of the GOP tax cut proposal. "I made a promise to the taxpayers, to the state, we would reduce middle class taxes by 10% and we did 15%. It is a bipartisan effort.”

Republicans reacted angrily to Evers taking credit for the tax cut, with the GOP co-chairs of the budget committee calling it “laughable.”

“Gov. Tony Evers deserves NO credit for signing our budget," Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said in a statement. “This was not a bipartisan process of colleagues sharing ideas. He got boxed into a corner and rather than fight for his unpopular budget and risk a political knockout, he and his team threw in the towel and signed our...