Joint Finance will meet Thursday to take taxes and school funding, the committee’s first major actions on the next budget.
The committee met twice last month and was in again last week to take up nine areas of the budget. It will meet tomorrow to vote on areas such as the state Supreme Court and Workforce Development.
Thursday’s votes will be the first on two main drivers of state spending. The Department of Public Instruction accounted for nearly 35% of all general fund appropriations in the 2023-25 budget when it was signed into law, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Shared revenue, another item on the committee’s Thursday agenda, is the third-largest general fund appropriation.
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Before negotiations with Dem Gov. Tony Evers broke down, Assembly Republicans had been pushing for a tax break geared toward retirement income, while Senate Republicans had targeted expanding the income covered by the state’s second-lowest income tax bracket.
The committee agenda includes:
- Appropriation Obligation Bonds
- Veterans Affairs
- Wisconsin Technical College System
- Public Instruction — General School Aids and Revenue Limits
- Public Instruction — Categorical Aids
- Public Instruction — Choice, Charter, and Open Enrollment
- Public Instruction — School District Operations and Curriculum
- Public Instruction — Administrative and Other Funding
- Shared Revenue — Direct Aid Payments
- Shared Revenue — Property Tax Credits
- Shared Revenue — Property Taxation
- Shared Revenue — Local Revenue Options
- General Fund Taxes — Income and Franchise Taxes
- General Fund Taxes — General Sales and Use Taxes
- General Fund Taxes — Excise Taxes
- General Fund Taxes — Public Utility Taxes
- General Fund Taxes — Refundable Tax Credits and Other Payments
