The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance warns that the Governor and lawmakers are focusing on the wrong priorities with the state budget.
The budget battle has both sides pointing fingers about which party wants to spend more. However, WISTAX president Todd Berry says budget plans from the Governor and Legislature share one glaring problem in that they don't improve the underlying health of state finances.
Berry says state government needs to form better plans to fix budget deficits and fill shrinking reserves. He says clear goals need to be set before lawmakers begin to budget, such as determining spending levels before deciding how much money they need to collect from taxpayers.
Berry says Wisconsin also needs to stop ending the fiscal year with a budget deficit, like it has for the last 14 years. The state closed the last fiscal year with a $2.15 billion deficit.