What ever happened to the Gold Standard?
GOP denies reality on job losses while defending lavish tax break to the top 1%
MADISON, WI – Republican politicians continue to display their lack of private sector experience by relying on outdated political talking points to defend their lavish giveaways to wealthy special interests. Despite the loss of 4,000 manufacturing jobs over 12 months, Wisconsin families are being forced to pay for hundreds of millions in tax giveaways targeted to some of the wealthiest individuals in the state.
“It’s time to put Wisconsin families first and eliminate Republican tax breaks to companies that outsource jobs,” said Senate Democratic Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse). “The fact that we’ve trailed the nation in job creation for 21 consecutive quarters proves we need to take a new approach. We need to hold politicians accountable for these disappointing results and be honest with voters who are sick and tired of watching our tax dollars wasted on ineffective, special interest giveaways.”
After new figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistic Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) showed a sharp drop in manufacturing jobs, Gov. Walker instead tried to cite estimates he’d previously disregarded. Gov. Walker has vigorously defended the QCEW as the most accurate source for job numbers and called it the “gold standard” in measuring job creation.
“Wisconsin workers deserve the gold standard, not a shameless giveaway that has seen the state lose manufacturing jobs,” said Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Janet Bewley (D-Delta). “This handout takes hundreds of millions directly out of working taxpayers’ pockets. Workers shouldn’t be forced to bankroll this giveaway to insiders who simply aren’t creating jobs.”
The Democratic leaders pointed out that accurate figures from the census of private sector employers showed Wisconsin losing more than 15% of the manufacturing jobs lost nationally despite the manufacturing and agriculture tax credit, which began phasing in during 2013 and took full effect in 2016.
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.
