H 58°, L 45° | Tomorrow: 
H 62°, L 51°Following Barbara Lawton’s decision to drop out of the Wisconsin gubernatorial race last week, the Democrats were left without a gubernatorial candidate and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker was left in the driver’s seat. Even though the election is still a year away, the Republican frontrunner is already looking to consolidate his advantage. In a conference call with reporters Monday, Walker indicated some of his first moves regarding the budget would be to undo a recently passed tax increase and cut other taxes, possibly at the expense of state employee benefits.
It is clear Walker has the financial record to tackle many of the issues currently facing the state government. After all, he took over a Milwaukee County government rocked by scandal and near bankruptcy and transformed it into a semi-functional one.
However, pledges of no new taxes are growing old, whether I have to read lips, mark words or even step over dead bodies. That line has been tried many times over with limited success. At some point, it may become necessary to raise taxes to maintain solvency at the capitol. Without a doubt, there are efficiencies to be found within all branches of state government. Nevertheless, to suggest the entire state shortfall — which was in the neighborhood of $6.6 billion last year — can be solved by simply tightening Uncle Sam’s belt is nothing short of fantasy.
Furlough days almost certainly figure to be part of the solution. Earlier this year Walker used them to help bridge a $15 million county deficit and Gov. Doyle has ordered a set of eight forced days off to help close the state gap. Unfortunately for Walker, the numbers are simultaneously too big and too small.
They are too small in the sense that staff cuts will fail to make anything more than a cursory dent in any future budget deficit that awaits the state. For example, Doyle’s furlough order is only estimated to account for a bit more than one-thirtieth of our current shortfall. Although it may be possible, I doubt you can squeeze the other 95 percent out of the union.
On the other hand, the numbers are too big in the sense that the furlough measures imposed by Walker in Milwaukee County this past May amount to a 12 percent pay cut for the affected workers. If Minnesota state workers were not afraid of a former wrestler and struck in 2001, I doubt their colleagues in Wisconsin will tremble before Scott Walker. Besides, that’s a pretty big number to ask anyone to swallow.
The issue also hits closer to home. Although we don’t really think of them as such, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s 2,000-odd faculty members are also state employees. Given the lack of competitive salaries and benefits to our professors that has been well-publicized over the past year, it would be devastating, from the university’s standpoint, if it were forced to slash compensation packages just as it begins to build them back up.
Any 12-year-old raised within earshot of Ronald Reagan could have come up with the idea that cutting taxes and slashing state employee benefits would save the state money. However, it will not save the state $6.6 billion — it will not even come close. Mr. Walker, as well as the rest of the state, should be well aware that solving our financial problems will require creativity and tough decisions, not magic bullets.
Moreover, while state finances are an important issue, they are not the only one Wisconsin faces. Important decisions regarding transportation, education and that Brett Favre guy will be made over the next four years, and while Walker and his supporters have gone to great lengths to characterize his economic credentials, they need to weigh in on these as well if they hope to make a complete case for the governorship.
Joe Labuz (labuz@wisc.edu) is a senior majoring in biomedical engineering.
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“Walker�s love affair with tax cuts won�t save state”
But taxing us all to death won’t save it either! I call for a federal tax revolt. Everybody pay your federal taxes to the state of Wisconsin. Let Washington have the recession for once.
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I thought that idea was stupid the first 5 times you wrote it in different articles
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Remember when George W. Bush cut taxes? We still have those same low taxes today. How’s that working for ya?
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Tax cuts won’t save the state but they might save families, businesses, jobs, etc. If you want to “save the state,” try closing half the universities and consolidate the programs, scale back the DNR, DMV, Etc. State government is loaded with committees, boards, commissions, task forces, and staffs that serve them. Here’s an idea - GONE!
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Anyone who has taken an intro economics class in high school or college will know that cutting taxes will work to save this state. It is proven that when businesses and families pay less in taxes, they spend more and save more. When more money is spent, it means that private business will be better off and be able to expand. Also, when more money is put in savings accounts, it allows more money to loaned out at a lower interest rate, which means business will expand. If these happen, then more money is spent in the private sector, and government revenue goes up. We need private business to expand in our state, not public government. As Scott said on campus last night, the government does not create jobs, it makes an environment better or worse for business. I would say that our current government has been making the environment pretty bad. After all, we are the 3rd worst state in the nation for business. If we have limited government and lower taxes, the private sector will grow, jobs will be created, and government revenue will go up to get rid of our deficit. Scott Walker has my vote in 2010!
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Supply side is discredited trash. “High school” is right; I’d love to see what actual economists at, oh, our Econ Department have to say about supply side economics.
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Wealth has to be produced. To the extent government policy favors production, which means leaving people free to create, invest and make a profit, increasing wealth will be possible. To the extent that government penalizes production by taxation and regulation, wealth will decrease.
This has to be the case because government does not produce anything. It can only take from those who have already produced (via taxes) and give it to others to consume. Since these “consumers” produce nothing in exchange (like they would in a free market), and the profits consumed via taxation are no longer available for investment (i.e., production), the net result is to lower the amount of wealth.
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If you all want to be slaves to the public employee unions it seems that raising taxes is the way to go.
Wisconsin could be a retirment haven for rich people, but not if taxes keep driving even the natives to move away.
In what respects, then, does California “excel”? California’s state and local government employees were the best compensated in America, according to the Census Bureau data for 2006. And the latest posting on the website of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility shows 9,223 former civil servants and educators receiving pensions worth more than $100,000 a year from California’s public retirement funds. The “dues” paid by taxpayers in order to belong to Club California purchase benefits that, increasingly, are enjoyed by the staff instead of the members.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/11/024850.php
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The speech given last night by Scott Walker spent maybe 5 minutes on cutting taxes on educators and government officials, yet this article, so broadly titled, “Walkers love affair with tax cuts…”, was based only off cuts in those sectors. His tax cuts will affect every family, business, and person. This will create a better environment for businesses to enter the market and survive, thus creating more jobs. Last night he made a proven connection between more jobs and a raise in tax revenue, after lowering taxes. A point I also found interesting from his speech (wish you could have been there) was the effects of lowering retirement taxes. Our high taxes on retirement forces a large group of people, most with money to spend, out of our state for half of the year. This takes money out of WI economy and into other small businesses. There are many more sectors where taxes can be cut and Walker has a history of using the tax money he has available in the appropriate manner.
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The speech given last night by Scott Walker spent maybe 5 minutes on cutting taxes on educators and government officials, yet this article, so broadly titled, “Walkers love affair with tax cuts…”, was based only off cuts in those sectors. His tax cuts will affect every family, business, and person. This will create a better environment for businesses to enter the market and survive, thus creating more jobs. Last night he made a proven connection between more jobs and a raise in tax revenue, after lowering taxes. A point I also found interesting from his speech (wish you could have been there) was the effects of lowering retirement taxes. Our high taxes on retirement forces a large group of people, most with money to spend, out of our state for half of the year. This takes money out of WI economy and into other small businesses. There are many more sectors where taxes can be cut and Walker has a history of using the tax money he has available in the appropriate manner.
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So I admit, I’m a UW grad that still reads the Herald. I like to keep a pulse on the campus I love so much and to get in a good laugh every day. Today this article provided me with a good chuckle. Tax cuts will make a huge difference. Just wait to you get out of the Madison academic bubble and start working. Scott Walker knows what he is talking about. In Milwaukee, where I grew up and now live and work, Walker has turned a few million dollar deficit to, I believe, a $9 million dollar surplus. Though business are still leaving in record numbers for third world nations or the South, that is due to Gov. Doyle’s policies. This state needs a Republican who knows how stimulate business and bring jobs and growth to this state once again. The man for that job is Scott Walker. He has my vote next year.
And To all of you who are still fleeced by the Madison bubble, step outside of it because what you see and learn there is not really close to the ‘real world’. I know I was as a poli sci major.
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“Mr. Walker, as well as the rest of the state, should be well aware that solving our financial problems will require creativity and tough decisions, not magic bullets.”
No, it will require adopting the right principles. One cannot begin to apply creativity and make tough decisions regarding these problems until one decides what the proper function of government is. Solving financial problems by taking money from people who have it is like asking a bank robber how he will solve his financial problems.
People need to start recognizing that the proper role of government is to protect individual rights instead of violating them by redistributing wealth. Only then we can start to talk about financing a government.
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Pretty sure Walker’s ideas are still better than Doyle’s any day of the week. Not that I can complain (I mean I did benefit from this), but as a part-time state employee that has been working at the capitol for over a year I would like to know how they can afford to give me a $0.75 raise just this past month?? It doesn’t add up especially with our state’s giant deficit. Whatever tho, I guess I am making some extra bank at the expense of the taxpayers :-)
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You can’t tax your way to prosperity!
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Death and taxes…
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Cutting taxes is just one of Walkers agenda. Cutting mandates on the state budget that act like taxes is another. Further, cutting the number of govt employees is another, thus forcing them into the private sector where wealth is created. I just that you go out and work in the private sector and understand what the state takes from you own pocket and how difficult that may be.