Steven Walters
The State of Politics

Will Walker Face a Budget Deficit?

Drop in tax collections could cause shortfall -- and a campaign issue for Burke.

By - Jul 21st, 2014 09:45 am
Governor Scott Walker

Governor Scott Walker

Within weeks, we may know whether Republican elected officials have tax cut their way into the next potential state budget deficit. Late in August, the state Department of Revenue will release the preliminary total for general-fund tax collections for the 12 months of fiscal 2014, which ended on June 30.

General-fund taxes include personal and corporate income, sales, cigarette, utility, beer, liquor, cigarette and other miscellaneous taxes. They pay for all state programs except highways and other transportation systems.

Here’s why the year-end numbers coming in August are important:

*The preliminary total for the first 11 months (July 2013 through May 2014) showed general-fund taxes actually dropped – by 0.4 percent -compared to the same period in the previous year.

*State government needs higher tax collections to pay for the cash promises Capitol politicians make to schools, local governments, the poor, elderly and disabled who rely on Medicaid for health-care, and to UW System students, their parents and staffers.

*Bad news in the year-end budget numbers would create a major new campaign issue in the election for governor. Republican Gov. Scott Walker hopes to win a second term on Nov. 4.

When the legislative session ended in May, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau cut its predicted one-year growth in tax collections to 1 percent. The lower prediction reflected a third tax cut proposed by Walker, and enacted by Republicans who control the Legislature, and Walker’s order to have less income taxes withheld from paychecks. Walker and GOP legislators made tax-code changes that totaled $1.9 billion over a four-year period. He also issued an order changing income-tax withholding tables, giving workers a few more dollars in their paychecks.

Every 1 percent increase in general-fund tax collections is worth $140 million. So if 2014 tax collections don’t increase by the 1 percent that the Fiscal Bureau predicted and that legislators built into their budget, that means state government starts the next year with $140 million less than it budgeted. But that also can create much bigger long-term budget problems – and potentially, a much larger budget deficit by mid-2015.

As Todd Berry, president of the non-profit Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance, notes, a two-year budget is cumulative, so if the first year misses its revenue target then the second year is more likely to as well because its projected increase in revenue is now working off a smaller base.  “So, it’s possible that one is hit both by a lower past base and a lower future growth trends,” Berry says.

If tax collections didn’t grow at all in fiscal 2014, there is little chance that they will increase in 2015 by the 3.4 percent the Fiscal Bureau predicted in May. That means state government could collect hundreds of millions less in taxes than expected – depleting or even wiping out the “rainy day” fund – when the two-year budget ends on June 30, 2015.

This pattern – elected officials spending all they can only to have economic slumps jeopardize that spending – has forced governors and legislators from both parties to confront billion-dollar deficits over the past decade.

The campaign of Mary Burke, the expected Democratic challenger to Walker in the Nov. 4 election, is closely monitoring tax-collection totals closely, sensing a potential new campaign issue. “Mary Burke was right: Walker’s election-year spending spree based on rosy assumptions was irresponsible,” says Joe Zepecki, Burke campaign spokesman.

Before the July-through-May drop in tax collections was announced, the Fiscal Bureau had warned of a potential deficit by mid-2017 of about $642 million, Zepecki notes.

To fight deficits, Walker and top aides have used these options in the past: Freeze hiring. Cancel major purchases. Refinance state debt, which may bring cash immediately but worsen the long-term fiscal picture.

But Jocelyn Webster, the governor’s communications director, says Walker is not worried. “Given the recent changes to the withholding tables, we expected individual income tax revenue collections, a large component of (general fund) collections, to go down compared to last year, since people are not sending as much of their paychecks to Madison,” Webster says.

“We’re confident in our ability to finish the biennium with a balanced budget,” she adds. “We want to continue growing our economy and the way to do that is to continue putting money back into the hands of hardworking taxpayers and job creators, so they can stimulate our economy.”

Steven Walters is a senior producer with the non-profit public affairs channel WisconsinEye. Contact him at stevenscwalters@gmail.com

5 thoughts on “The State of Politics: Will Walker Face a Budget Deficit?”

  1. Andy says:

    Because of the tax code changes bringing in less money during the year (that would normally be refunded at tax time) and the bitterly cold winter putting a damper on the economy, I wouldn’t be surprised to see tax revenue fall short of original expectations. However, long term I doubt this will be of serious concern.

  2. PMD says:

    Let’s hope we don’t end up like Kansas.

  3. Andy says:

    Or worse… Illinois!

  4. PMD says:

    More Minnesota, less Illinois or Kansas.

  5. Dave says:

    I told many people when the “projected” surplus and subsequent tax cuts were announced that any tax cuts or rebates should only be done AFTER the actual final numbers are known. Providing the tax cuts based on projections was nothing more than an election year gimmick and irresponsible.

    Remember, when the budget was approved in June, 2013, the projected surplus was about $100 million. By January, 2014, it was revised upward to about $1 billion, prompting the tax cuts.

Leave a Reply

You must be an Urban Milwaukee member to leave a comment. Membership, which includes a host of perks, including an ad-free website, tickets to marquee events like Summerfest, the Wisconsin State Fair and the Florentine Opera, a better photo browser and access to members-only, behind-the-scenes tours, starts at $9/month. Learn more.

Join now and cancel anytime.

If you are an existing member, sign-in to leave a comment.

Have questions? Need to report an error? Contact Us