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The 400-Year Property Tax Blame Game
Wisconsin’s governor is showing no remorse for his order that touched-off what could be a centuries-long wave of property increases.
Evers on Friday took to X to tell voters to “deal with it.”
“My 400-year veto is here to stay—lawmakers either need to fund our public schools or get over it,” the governor wrote on X.
He also included a Gif of a pair of sunglasses dropping over his eyes to make the point.
Evers vetoed the plan from Republicans at the Capitol to rollback his 400-year veto.
Back in 2023, the governor changed the state budget to add a 400-year school funding increase. He erased a few numbers and pieces of punctuation to change what was a two-year, $325 per-student funding increase into a 400-year increase.
In 2025, the liberal majority Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the veto. Republican lawmakers have tried to end the governor’s order ever since.
The legislation he vetoed would have canceled the veto. There is also a ballot question on the November ballot that will make sure another governor cannot issue a similar veto in the future. But that won’t do anything to Evers’ standing order.
Evers said in his veto message that he won’t repeal his 400-year veto without guarantees that schools will continue to see more money. He also said criticism of his veto is nothing more than political gamesmanship.
"Republican lawmakers, who have to run under fair maps with a voting record of rejecting $7 billion for K-12 public schools over the last four state budgets, all know that my 400-year veto didn't raise Wisconsinites' property taxes – it's just a heckuva lot easier for them to blame me than it is to tell the truth," the governor wrote.
Evers’ veto is being blamed for a double-digit spike in property taxes back in January. Republicans say the veto will also all but guarantee more property tax increases going forward.
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