Ahead of Tax Day, Labor Leaders Blast Johnson and GOP For Pushing to Raise Taxes on 32% of Wisconsinites

MADISON, Wis. – Today, ahead of Tax Day on April 18, DPW Chair Ben Wikler hosted a roundtable with Wisconsin labor leaders to blast Ron Johnson and Rick Scott’s 2022 GOP agenda – which aims to raise taxes on 32% of Wisconsinites and hike health insurance premiums. This comes just days after Johnson admitted the provisions he fought to have included in the 2017 tax bill benefited his company and his biggest donors.

Leaders from the Wisconsin Farmers Union and Wisconsin Pipe Trades Union spoke about how the GOP’s agenda would raise taxes on working Wisconsinites – including farmers, plumbers, and working families around the state. While Republicans like Ron Johnson have worked to rig the tax code in a way that benefited themselves and the ultra-wealthy, Democrats are working to pass legislation to cap monthly insulin costs and pushing to make billionaires pay their fair share without raising taxes on anyone making less than $400,000.

Watch the full event here, or see key excerpts below:

WATCH HERE 

Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler:

• “Ron Johnson and his Republican allies in the Senate and Republicans in Congress have done everything they could to stack the deck against regular Wisconsinites. In Ron Johnson’s world, you have to pay to play.”
• “The difference couldn’t be more clear. Republican politicians work to enrich huge corporations and their wealthy mega donors. And Democrats like President Biden and Governor Evers will always champion working people by lowering costs, cutting taxes for the middle class, and growing our economy and the middle class from the bottom up and the middle out.”

President of the Wisconsin Pipe Trades Union Corey Gall:

• “We know how important unions are and that blue-collar workers are the backbone of our country and the state’s economy. Which is why it’s so disappointing to hear that Ron Johnson and the Republican Party [are] running on an agenda that will raise taxes on 32% of [Wisconsinites], meaning that the folks who work so hard to provide for themselves and their families will have even more to pay. And why do the Republicans want to raise taxes on the working class? [So] they can pay for tax giveaways to the biggest donors.”

Vice President of the Wisconsin Farmers Union Darin Von Ruden:

• “We really need to find a senator that is going to be willing to do what’s right for rural Wisconsin — and really all of Wisconsin on many different fronts. [Johnson is] having this continued process of voting no for dollars that can come into the state to help with many different things such as infrastructure, roads, bridges, and broadband. We need to find a senator that is actually looking out for the people of Wisconsin and not his own best interests.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.