MacIver News Service - Governor Scott Walker proposes a two-year tuition freeze at the UW System, reinstating funding lapses, and defunding multiple economic development initiatives. Secretary Mike Huebsch, Department of Administration, sent a letter to Sen. Alberta Darling and Rep. John Nygren, the Co-Chairs of the Joint Committee on Finance, on Wednesday afternoon outlining the Governor's proposals. Read More »

The Joint Committee on Finance plans to vote today on additional bonding authority for the Department of Natural Resources Stewardship Program. The program has bonding authority of $1.4 billion through fiscal year 2020, and under the Governor's budget will borrow $115 million for land acquisition and property development. Each year, Wisconsin needs to pay back the money they owe in the form of Debt Service Payments. This chart shows that these payments will have cost the state more than $540 million over the past decade. Read More »

MacIver News Service (Updated 5/15/13 at 6:36PM) - The Joint Committee on Finance will vote today on providing additional bonding authority of $115 million for the Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship program for 2013-2015. This program has $1.4 billion in bonding authority through 2019-2020 and has debt service payments in excess of $90 million annually. Read More »

MacIver News Service - The State Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that will reduce the power of the Milwaukee County Board, decrease their budget, and schedule a referendum to essentially make County Supervisor positions part-time. The bill passed 19-14 in the Senate, and the Assembly took action to concur in both amendments. Read More »

"No one should feel comfortable right now based on the alleged un-American activities of the IRS," Rep. Nass wrote in his email. "That is why these requests should be stripped from the budget." Read More »

Scott Walker announced Monday his support to use increased sales tax revenue to cut income taxes. Read More »

MacIver News Service - Frustrated with the affects of Act 10 a teacher in western Wisconsin is taking a teaching job in Columbia, where she will work for a private school, sponsored by a mining company, and will likely be exempt from paying US taxes. Read More »

Recently, Step Up for Public Schools (SUPS) released a pamphlet titled "The Truth about Vouchers and Privately Run Charters." Unfortunately, a better title for their flier would have been "Half-Truths." SUPS raises several tired talking points about school choice in Wisconsin that have been repeatedly debated, disproven, and regurgitated over more than two decades of voucher discussion. Read More »

Compare your average Wisconsin property tax bill to other midwestern states. Read More »

MacIver News Service - New revenue estimates from the non-partisan Fiscal Bureau on Thursday show Wisconsin will bring in $575 million more, or 1.4 percent, than expected over the next three years. Income tax estimates are up $385 million and corporate tax estimates have increased by $190 million. Read More »