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With news Wisconsin is looking at a budget surplus of $419 million, there has been much debate over what to do actually do with the money. Most of the discussion at the Capitol has revolved around giving it back to taxpayers in the form of a tax cut. We thought that seemed like an awfully boring way to spend hundreds of millions of dollars. Here are a few other ideas:
Badger Herald Opinion present: Top 10 ways to spend the surplus
Kelsey Fenton | The Badger Herald
1. Actually start paying back the state debt (after all, is it really a surplus if we’re still billions of dollars in debt?).
Kelsey Fenton | The Badger Herald
2. Create an endowment to fund the Mifflin Street Block Party for the foreseeable future (think of it, rather than saddling our children’s children with debt, we’ll establish a party for generations to come).
Kelsey Fenton | The Badger Herald
3. Give it back to the public school system (no, seriously — isn’t that where all this money came from in the first place?).
Associated Press
4. Invest in high-speed rail infrastructure (since we’ve never had the chance until now).
Megan McCormick | The Badger Herald
5. Move Lincoln Memorial to the top of Bascom (make Abe more imposing, earn the University of Wisconsin mad respect).
Associated Press
6. Reinstate Medicaid funding (because we could actually use this money to help people).
Andy Fate | The Badger Herald
7. Secede from the Union, form the sovereign nation of the United State of Wisconsin (bribe Obama to make it happen).
Associated Press
8. Buy the Chicago Blackhawks and move them to Madison (seriously, how does Wisconsin not have an NHL team yet?).
Megan McCormick | The Badger Herald
9. Fund a Walker for President campaign (because we need to make the 2016 primaries even more entertaining than 2012.)
Associated Press
10. Hire Professor Kanye West to teach Afro-American studies 156 ("Oh, you graduated? No, I decided I was finished.")
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