What Happened to Tax-Cut Negotiations?

Wisconsin State Capitol. Photo by Dave Reid.

If there were Capitol negotiations on any special-session package that would spend most of the $2.5-billion surplus on controlling December property tax bills and boosting  state aid to K-12 schools, who would be at the negotiating table?

Top aides to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers? Sure.

But Evers leaves office in January, so those aides may be busy keeping the Evers administration train on the track for its final ride. Or those aides may be considering taking leaves from their jobs to help one of the eight Democrats running for governor. Or those aides may be scouting out where they will be working 10 months from now.

Also, Democratic legislators may be sending this message to Team Evers: Please don’t agree to any tax cut package that Republicans, who have controlled the Legislature since 2011, can take credit for in their November campaigns.

And what about Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who did tax-and-spend deals as speaker and as a former co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee? Or some of his senior policy aides? Would they need to be involved in any negotiations? Sure.

But the longest-serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history has announced that he — like Evers — is retiring. So Vos may be preoccupied trying to help recruit and fund the next generation of Republican candidates and unavailable to negotiate a new tax cut deal.

Vos aides may have already taken leaves, or will soon, from their state jobs to run individual GOP Assembly campaigns.

How about Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August? Unlikely.

August has never served on the Finance Committee and may be too busy working with Republican candidates, trying to keep his party in control of the Assembly and — maybe — making enough friends to elect him as the next speaker.

Assembly Joint Finance co-chair Mark Born? Sure. He’s played a role in major tax-and-spend packages for the six years he has co-chaired the Finance Committee, but he’s also running his own re-election campaign.

Assembly Joint Finance vice chair Tony Kurtz? Yes. Because anyone who was, according to his official bio, a “former U.S. Army attack helicopter pilot 1985–2005…, Persian Gulf War veteran [and] Iraq War veteran” can do hard things.

But Born and Kurtz are not empowered to sign off on a deal for all Assembly Republicans, many of whom are also leaving office.

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu? Or some of his senior policy aides? Sure, but don’t set a place at any negotiating table for Team LeMahieu.

No major tax cut and K-12 spending deal can be done without Senate leaders. But LeMahieu — whose scheduling of controversial bills on the Senate’s final session day, March 17, was opposed by several of his fellow Republicans — announced with finality that day that he would be joining Evers and Vos and retire. “Moving to the Madison area. See ya.”

Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dan Feyen? Unlikely. He’s never served on the Finance Committee and has not been a leader in policy development.

Senate President Mary Felzkowski? Yes. Hold a place for Felzkowski at the negotiating table, because she is not afraid to try to do big deals and has questioned past long-term spending decisions by her fellow Republicans.

Senate Joint Finance co-chairman Howard Marklein? Yes and no. He would have to play a major role in any tax-and-spend special session deal. But he’s running for re-election in a new southwest Wisconsin district that is being targeted by Democrats who handpicked — and are funding — their favored candidate.

Senate Joint Finance vice chair Patrick Testin? Maybe. If there were any Capitol talks on a tax-and-spend package, the ambitious Testin would like to play a role. And, since he’s not up for re-election this year, work on a big deal would help him develop policy chops.

But time for a Senate reality check. The 18 Senate Republicans were so split when that house adjourned last month that getting 17 of them to vote for a tax-and-spend deal seems impossible. Four of the 18 are retiring, so their votes for any deal aren’t guaranteed, since they don’t need to say they helped pass it in their re-election campaigns.

And Senate Democrats, sensing a real possibility they gain enough seats in November elections to run that chamber in the 2027-2028 session, don’t want Republican candidates to take any pre-election victory laps, saying they voted to help control December property tax bills.

So, that Capitol negotiating session on a special session tax-and-spend package? Don’t reserve a room anytime soon.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com