(AP) – The call to consider higher taxes to solve Wisconsin’s budget shortfall continues to grow.
More than 60 advocacy groups held a news conference Tuesday to argue that cutting the state budget without raising taxes will devastate programs helping the poor, children, the elderly, those with disabilities and others.
Groups representing children and families, counties and cities, school administrators, the mentally ill and others were among those calling for targeted tax increases, rather than just budget cuts, to solve the state’s $6.6 billion budget shortfall.
Their message came a day after the president of the state’s largest teachers union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, urged policy makers to consider higher taxes rather than cutting school aid.
The calls come as Gov. Jim Doyle and Democratic leaders of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee meet in secret to hammer out a deal. The committee was expected to meet publicly this week but had no meetings planned through Wednesday.
Doyle’s spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said he couldn’t speculate when a deal would be reached.
Doyle has shown he’s willing to raise taxes to solve the budget problem. He has proposed $1.7 billion tax and fee increases but no general sales or income tax hikes.
The Legislature has approved Doyle’s plans to raise taxes on multistate corporations, Internet downloads and specialized computer software. It also passed a tax on hospitals, which will be reimbursed by the federal government.
Other tax increases remain to be considered. They include creating a new income tax bracket for those earning more than $225,000 a year or $300,000 for married couples; raising the tax on capital gains; increasing the per-pack tax on cigarettes by 75 cents; and imposing a new tax on big oil company profits.
Since Doyle released his budget plan, the deepening recession and a severe drop-off in tax collections added another $1.6 billion to the budget shortfall.
Doyle said earlier this month that he will not propose raising any more taxes to solve that gap. The advocacy groups’ arguments won’t make him change his mind, Sensenbrenner said.
“He’s said this is a national recession that is causing us all to make hard, painful decisions that will require sacrifices on everyone’s part,” he said.
Instead, the governor has warned that state agencies, school aid and aid to counties could be cut by 5 percent or more. He also proposed 16 days of furlough for state workers and layoffs affecting up to 1,100.
The threat of more cuts has those on the chopping block lobbying for other alternatives.
“We need to take a balanced approach that includes spending reductions and targeted revenue increases,” Fond du Lac County Executive Allen Buechel said Tuesday. “We simply cannot cut our way out of the crisis.”
Buechel said counties are already struggling to provide essential services to families and others. He said there’s an unprecedented demand on those programs.
Buechel did not say which taxes he thought should be increased.
The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families lists a number of possibilities on its Web site, including increasing capital gains taxes, restoring the estate tax, beefing up tax collection efforts and eliminating the property tax exemption for business computers.
