Contact: Aaron Collins – 608-266-2254
Transportation Infrastructure, UW System will see no increases under Walker Plan
MADISON – Assembly Democratic Leader Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) released the following statement after Governor Walker directed state agencies to plan for zero spending growth in their 19-21 biennial budget requests.
“Governor Walker is proposing zero-growth budgets for important state programs in order to afford hundreds of millions of dollars a year to pay for the largest taxpayer subsidy to a foreign corporation in our nation’s history. We wouldn’t be in the position of directing agencies to plan for zero growth without the burden of a deal that our state won’t break even on until 2043 under the best case scenario. The Governor’s so-called ‘reform dividend’ is going to multi-millionaires and Foxconn at the expense of our state’s priorities.
“Scott Walker has had the advantage of being Wisconsin’s governor during the third-longest national economic expansion in U.S. history. Like nearly every other state in the country, Wisconsin has experienced revenue growth during this time. Yet even with these increases, Governor Walker has failed to invest in Wisconsin’s future. The majority of states have increased funding for higher education over the past four years. Meanwhile, Governor Walker has gutted the UW System to pay for massive tax cuts like the one that gave 15 people who each earn more than $30 million a year, more than $27 million in tax cuts.
“The public should be asking why Governor Walker has wasted the third longest period of national economic growth and is now stuck with zero-growth budgets as other states have experienced increasing opportunity and prosperity.”
