Gov. Evers Announces Wisconsin Taxpayers Will Avoid Paying $205 Million in Potential Penalty Fees Next Year
Months after Gov. Evers fought to secure more FoodShare support, new data show Wisconsin will be among just nine states to avoid paying penalty fees to Trump Administration in 2027
MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today announced Wisconsin taxpayers next year will avoid paying as much as $205.5 million in new federal penalty fees imposed by President Donald J. Trump and Republicans in Congress through the so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Republicans passed last year. Just months after Gov. Evers was finally able to secure support from the Republican-controlled Legislature to support the state’s FoodShare program, Wisconsin will be among just nine states that will avoid having to pay exorbitant new penalty fees to the Trump Administration in 2027. Every Republican member of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation voted to pass the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ last year, forcing over 270,000 Wisconsinites to lose their health insurance, tens of thousands of Wisconsinites to lose access to basic food necessities, and imposing hundreds of millions of dollars in new potential penalty fees on states.
“We worked hard to make sure Wisconsinites will not have to fork over $200 million in new penalty fees to the Trump Administration next year—and it’s no thanks to President Trump or Republicans in Congress, that’s for darn sure. We spent months working to secure more state support for Wisconsin’s FoodShare program so we can keep our tax dollars here in Wisconsin instead of paying penalty fees to Washington. So, while this is great news for our state, Republicans’ ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ has already cost Wisconsin taxpayers tens of millions of dollars—and it’s only going to get more expensive from here,” Gov. Evers. “At the end of the day, what this means is that Wisconsinites are getting the help they need when they need it from FoodShare, and FoodShare is working just like it’s supposed to. Especially as President Trump and Republicans in Congress do everything they can to take food and basic necessities away from Wisconsin’s hungry kids, families, and seniors, my administration and I will continue working to make sure FoodShare remains a strong program that’s available for folks who need it. Here in Wisconsin, we must continue working to address food insecurity, make sure hungry kids, families, and seniors can access healthy and nutritional food, and fight against every effort by President Trump and Republicans to make it harder for people to get help when they need it.”
Congressional Republicans, last summer, passed President Trump’s signature legislation, the so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ cutting essential Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food assistance, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin, by about 20 percent by increasing red-tape requirements, gutting healthy and nutritional food education programs, and forcing states to potentially face hundreds of millions of dollars in new penalty fees to the Trump Administration. Under the ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ states would have to pay a sliding scale of penalty fees to the federal government if payment ‘error rates’ in the SNAP program exceed certain thresholds, despite the fact that error rates do not measure fraud, are based on unintentional mistakes states do not control, and no state will ever have a zero-percent error rate. In Wisconsin, for example, new penalty fees Republicans created under the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ could have forced taxpayers to pay an additional over $200 million every year in penalty fees to the Trump Administration, on top of the more than $284 million Wisconsin taxpayers are already estimated to pay in future budgets.
Gov. Evers last summer began raising alarms about the impacts of Republicans’ ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ which the Evers Administration estimates will cost Wisconsinites over $284 million in future state budgets. At the time, which was shortly after the passage of Wisconsin’s 2025-27 Biennial Budget, the governor also announced the Republican legislation would cost an initial nearly $70 million up front in order to implement new red-tape requirements, hire more quality control staff across the state, and help pay for new costs the federal government is shifting onto state taxpayers.
The governor spent months working to secure the nearly $70 million from the Republican-controlled Legislature in order to prevent taxpayers from having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalty fees to the Trump Administration. Earlier this year, Gov. Evers signed a bipartisan bill, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 116, that secured over $72 million in additional state resources for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to support the FoodShare program and keep FoodShare error rates low to avoid federal penalty fees.
“Wisconsin’s low FoodShare error rate is a reflection of the hard work and expertise of all the people across our state who run one of the best SNAP programs in the nation. I applaud the incredible staff and partners who make this program possible,” said Wisconsin Medicaid Director Amanda Dreyer. “We are committed to doing what it takes to help every Wisconsinite who needs assistance buying food and, at the same time, meet the highest standards of accuracy. Thank you to everyone who helps feed Wisconsin families.”
Earlier this month, Gov. Evers urged Wisconsin’s congressional delegation to eliminate or delay the implementation of federal penalty fees imposed under the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ that are based on SNAP payment error rates. The methodology the federal government is utilizing to potentially have states on the hook for millions of dollars is arbitrary at best and does not substantially improve the integrity of the program.
Under Republicans’ ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ states with error rates above six percent are required by the federal government to pay—for the first time ever—a share of federal SNAP benefit costs. SNAP payment error rates released yesterday show Wisconsin’s error rate of 5.72 percent, making Wisconsin one of just nine states that achieved error rates lower than six percent last year. A list of each state’s SNAP payment error rates is attached.
While the efforts by Gov. Evers and the Evers Administration have prevented Wisconsin taxpayers from having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalty fees in 2027, there is no guarantee that Wisconsin taxpayers will not be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in the future. If under future administrations Wisconsin’s SNAP payment error rate exceeds six percent, Wisconsin taxpayers will have to pay up to an estimated $205 million in federal penalty fees, on top of the additional $284 million Wisconsin taxpayers are expected to have to pay in future budgets because of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’
More information regarding the state’s FoodShare program, including how to apply for and manage benefits, is available on DHS’s website.
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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