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The Wisconsin Assembly has passed Governor Scott Walker’s $504 million tax cut plan. Tuesday’s 61-35 vote mirrors action taken by the Senate earlier this month and sends the bill to Walker for his signature.
The package, which was modified in the Joint Finance Committee after being initially passed by the Assembly in February, includes $131 in property tax relief for a median-priced home, and an income tax cut averaging $46. It’s funded with a portion of a projected $977 million budget surplus.
Representative Jim Steineke (R-Kaukana) related the experience of a senior citizen constituent who he said struggled to pay her property taxes. “The one thing that jeopardized her ability to stay in her home was not her health, but it was her property tax,” said Steineke. “Twenty bucks a month, ten bucks a month, makes a huge difference.”
The package also includes another $100 million to be placed into the state’s general fund, and $38 million in new spending cuts to off-set a possible structural deficit to start the next state budget period.