MacIver News Service | May 22, 2014
[Madison, Wisc…] The State of Wisconsin’s current budget is projected to end with $100 million in surplus according to a new report from the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB).The surplus comes after the state cut taxes three times in the past year. Wisconsin cut income taxes by $650 million last June as a part of the 2013-15 state budget. Property taxes were reduced by $100 million last October when a surplus was realized, and the governor recently signed into law more than $850 million in income and property tax relief.
In addition to the 2013-15 budget surplus, Wisconsin also has $279.5 million in the budget stabilization fund, or the rainy-day fund.
“Wisconsin’s economy, and therefore our tax base, keeps growing as a direct result of tax cuts,” Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield) told the MacIver Institute. “Wisconsin can see further economic gains, jobs, improved fiscal health, and even more tax revenue if we continue to cut taxes.”
The Fiscal Bureau also released data that shows the state has a $642 million projected structural deficit. The structural deficit projects the state’s needed revenues for the 2015-17 state budget, without accounting for any changes to appropriations or revenue growth.
Previous reports from LFB show that modest economic growth would eliminate a structural deficit of this size.
The full report from the Fiscal Bureau is available here.