Contact: Amy Hasenberg, (608) 266-2839

MADISON – Governor Scott Walker released his Weekly Radio Address today titled “Giving Back to Wisconsin Families.”

Hi, Scott Walker here. 

Over the past few years, we had to make some tough choices. And you know what? They paid off.  

When we finished the past fiscal year, Wisconsin had a more than a half a billion budget surplus. The budget I signed at the end of the summer made the largest investment into our schools in history. And we eliminated the state property tax.  

By the end of this budget, the cumulative impact of our tax relief will exceed $8 billion. We’ve reduced property taxes and income taxes – both will be lower at the end of 2018 then they were in 2010. The state and local tax burden, once one of the highest in the country, is now below the national average. We are reducing the burden on hard-working taxpayers, but we’re not done yet. 

So when the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau recently announced that Wisconsin would have a larger than expected budget surplus, I announced that we are going to send it back to the taxpayers. In my opinion, the quickest, easiest and most effective way for us to return this to the taxpayers and continue to grow the economy is through a child tax credit.

Our plan will provide $100 for every child – under the age of 18 – living at home. The check will be sent to the home or electronically deposited before September 1st. We want families to have the money before school starts so they can use it to buy things like school supplies, shoes, clothing or maybe a new jacket.

Parents and grandparents all over the state are telling me about how this will help before the start of the school year.  Plus, this will encourage people to spend more at stores here in the state – which will help grow the economy.  With this surge, we are likely to have an even bigger than expected budget surplus again next year. This, in turn, will help us fund our priorities in the next budget for things like schools and income and property tax cuts for people all over the state.  

The bottom line is that our reforms are working. The economy is strong with more people employed in this state than ever before. Last year, we talked about how the Reform Dividend helped us put more money into schools while still reducing taxes. Now, this is your Reform Dividend. You deserve it.  

It’s just one more way we are getting positive things done for the people of Wisconsin.

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