Madison – Representative Lindee Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) issued the following statement regarding the proposed 1.8-billion-dollar surplus spending deal:
“In the 2025-2027 biennium, Wisconsin taxpayers overpaid the State of Wisconsin by $2.3 billion. Over the past months, negotiations have been ongoing about how to spend that money. The legislature is now being asked to approve a 1.8-billion-dollar Evers wish-list which will potentially saddle the next legislature and the next governor with a structural deficit of over $1 billion at the start of the 2027-2029 biennium.
This deal is being sold as “buying down property taxes” and providing income tax relief. However, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB), the estimated average reduction in property tax bills produced by this deal is a mere $107. At a time when many Wisconsinites have seen their property tax bills increase by several times that number, it’s hard to see such a figure as a significant “buy-down,” especially when the price tag is a deficit which will inevitably result in a future increase in taxes. The
“income tax relief” offered in the deal is a similarly paltry figure: a one-time payment of $300 for individual filers and $600 for joint filers. There’s also no guarantee that the governor who duplicitously raised Wisconsin property taxes for 400 years with a stroke of the veto-pen, which this “blockbuster deal” fails to remedy, wouldn’t wield that pen again to cancel what little tax relief is present in this deal in favor of spending solely on his priorities.
Instead of returning the overpayment, the deal would inject over 600 million more taxpayer dollars into public schools without any meaningful or binding reform. Whether or not this infusion is formally ongoing in whole or in part, this will likely be regarded as part of the baseline for the next budget. Government spending is often a ratchet, and once this spend has been approved, it will be an uphill battle to reverse or reduce it.
Rather than excusing a possible billion-dollar structural deficit with token one-time payments, Republicans and all fiscally responsible Wisconsinites should demand that this 2.3-billion-dollar overpayment be returned to taxpayers. If Governor Evers refuses to do so, let’s give voters a chance to decide if they get their money back by electing a governor who will.”
The Representative’s office is located in Room 409 North at the Wisconsin State Capitol. She may be reached at (608) 237-9127 or by email at Rep.Brill@legis.wisconsin.gov. Representative Lindee Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) serves the 27th Assembly District, which includes portions of Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Manitowoc counties.
