Republican lawmakers in the state want to cut your taxes to stimulate our economy and compete in the world. State Senator Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield) says Wisconsinites are overtaxed, so part of his " Invest Wisconsin 2.0 " plan includes a multi-million dollar across-the-board income tax cut to help families and to boost the economy. "So we're announcing today that we'll be introducing a bill that will change the marginal income tax rate in the tax year of 2007 and will realize a 1% reduction in marginal income tax rates for the state. That would be a $65-million tax cut in the first year of this budget."
But, can the state afford such a huge tax cut when we're facing a $1.6 billion budget deficit ? "We can't afford not to grow," says Kanavas. "One of the things people need to understand is that one of the big delimiters for Wisconsin is still taxes. If we don't grow, the public sector can't grow. And that's exactly what this initiative package is all about."
State Senator Carol Roessler (R-Oshkosh) says there is a "tremendous duplication of programs" in the Department of Commerce. All they have to do is streamline to become more efficient and save money. Kanavas says, in addition to high taxes, Wisconsin is being held back by a deteriorating litigation climate.
There are ten bills in the Invest Wisconsin 2.0 plan, including a nanotechnology tax credit, capital gains reinvestment in a certified Wisconsin-based business, product liability reform, education tax credit and jobs preservation act.