Dear GOP, It’s Not Working
Wisconsin on verge of recession, Assembly GOP must take up middle class tax cut legislation
MADISON – Last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel released the following article, “Job creation slowed sharply in Wisconsin in 2016, raising questions and worries” outlining the latest jaw-dropping data on the decline of wages and jobs in Wisconsin in 2016. Disturbing trends from the latest data include an overall decrease in private sector wages in Wisconsin, with manufacturing wages plunging 5.3%, in addition to Wisconsin having the worst job creation performance since the 2008-09 recession. Wisconsin has consistently lagged behind the national average in terms of manufacturing job growth, sitting at 1.4 percent, compared to 2.1 percent nationally.
In 2011, Governor Walker and legislative Republicans enacted the Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit (MAC), the largest corporate tax giveaway in Wisconsin history that does not require the creation of one single job and allows companies to outsource jobs while still receiving a tax windfall. Under the MAC, 88 percent of the multimillion dollar giveaway goes to people making more than $500,000, with 11 multi-millionaires making more than $30 million each receiving nearly $22 million in tax funds. MAC has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars more than originally promised by GOP lawmakers and is expected to cost $654 million over the next two years.
“Sadly, this most recent data, considered the ‘gold standard’ for evaluating job creation, demonstrates what we have known all along – MAC does not work. Large conservative special interest groups like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce will tell you otherwise, but it’s because their large corporate clients stand to make millions, if not billions, from this tax giveaway. Look at the data – it doesn’t lie. Millionaires don’t have to create one single job and can outsource jobs and still get millions,” Taylor commented.
Earlier this year, Taylor joined over half of her Assembly Democratic colleagues in introducing progressive tax reform legislation that provides substantial, targeted tax relief to middle class families and ensures that millionaires and big corporations pay their fair share. The proposed tax cut is specifically targeted to individuals making less than $60,000/year and families making less than $100,000/year. The proposal includes the elimination of MAC.
“Millionaires and corporate CEO’s aren’t better than the rest of us and it’s time my Republican colleagues stopped mistreating Wisconsin families. We deserve better. This legislation has been sitting in the Ways and Means Committee for the last two months and given these job and wage numbers – now is the time for this legislation to receive a public hearing,” Taylor concluded.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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