ICYMI: Complete Budget Analysis, Evers Pushing Costly Environmental Regulations, And The US Consumer Keeps Economy Strong

MacIver News Service | July 19, 2019

As we dive into the heart of the summer, nothing slowed down in the news across the state and country. Over the past week MacIver released its complete analysis of the state budget and a breakdown of how Gov. Evers increased spending through his veto pen; the Governor is trying to push through extensive PFA regulations that would destroy businesses; and consumers keep the economy alive. 

Stay cool, please stay inside and enjoy your A/C if you’re lucky enough to have it, maybe even welcome in a friend who lacks it, and make sure to keep up with all things Maciver by following them on Twitter. Here are some articles for the fiscal conservative, in case you missed it.

COMPLETE ANALYSIS: The 2019-21 Wisconsin State Budget

MacIver released their complete analysis of the 2019-21 Wisconsin State Budget comprehensively reviewing each topic and how it affects you, the taxpayer. The taxpayer is both a winner and a loser from the budget cycle seeing historic increases in spending, but also receiving considerable tax relief. The GOP was able to limit much of Evers’ poor policy despite the mass spending by blocking the Medicaid expansion and stopping the wishes of Evers’ Big Labor alles from being granted.

Evers Administration Unveils Stringent And Costly Environmental Regs With 1 Day To Comment

Evers is pushing to set some of the strictest PFOA and PFOS groundwater standards in the world and it is leaving businesses “completely terrified” of the potential cost implications. Evers and the DHS aspire for a microscopic amount of 2 PPT in their water, despite the science being unclear on human health. The Governor is so eager to push this legislation through that he slashed the statutory comment period of 21 days to just 1.

How Evers Vetoed A Spending Increase Into The Budget

MacIver lays out a simple step-by-step process of how Evers was able to increase K-12 per pupil spending by over $85 million through a veto. Traditionally, that shouldn’t be possible. MacIver special guest Dan O’Donnell writes on the policy, “This is a clear encroachment on legislative spending authority as well as a violation of both the obvious intent of the Wisconsin constitutional amendment creating the partial veto and the plain meaning of the word “veto” itself.”

The US Consumer is Keeping The Economy From Tanking

The United States consumer is heavily spending and helping the economy as retail sales for June rose by 0.4 percent. The prospect of a Fed interest rate cut may be behind this with consumer confidence levels very high. Some economists debate whether the Fed cuts are needed in response to this data, but it is not expected to affect the Open Market Committee’s decisions at the end of the month.

Every Income-Group Got A Tax Cut in 2018 Except Millionaires

Despite claims the Tax Cut and Jobs Act was a give away to the wealthy, the data shows it was anything but that. Every income group received a cut thanks except for the millionaires. More people are claiming the Child Tax Credit, which was championed by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Mike Lee (R-UT). The expansion of the standard deduction benefits taxpayers, with the data showing only those making above $250,000 still itemizing taxes instead of utilizing the standardized deduction.