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MADISON - Faced with the largest state
budget shortfall in Wisconsin history, lawmakers were prepared to
start debate Thursday on a plan that would force smokers and anyone
with a phone to pay more to help balance the books.
Democrats who hold a slim 52-46
majority in the Assembly were working to pull together the 50 needed
votes to pass the budget. It will be a tough vote for many on a budget
that raises taxes and fees $2.1 billion and makes cuts that could lead
to 1,400 state worker layoffs.
The Democratic-controlled Senate, which
must pass an identical plan before it heads to Gov. Jim Doyle, planned
to take up the budget next week.
Republicans are expected to unanimously
vote against it.
"The Democrats completely
overreached," said state Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus.
"I think the taxpayers are going to flip out when they see this.
... They've made it easy for the Republican Party to make the case
that the Democrats have failed in the authority they were given."
The sweeping two-year, $62.2 billion
spending plan crafted largely in secret by Democratic leaders also
goes much further than simply ensuring there's enough money available
to pay the bills.
Same-sex couples could get a host of
legal rights now only available to married couples.
Illegal immigrants could get a special
driver's card that would allow them to legally operate on Wisconsin's
roads, making it the only state other than Utah with such a system.
And illegal immigrants who graduate from Wisconsin high schools could
pay in-state tuition at the state's colleges and universities.
Prison inmates could earn time off
their sentence for good behavior and some criminals up to age 25,
instead of just 21, could have their criminal records expunged.
Gas taxes may increase under a new fee
proposed for big oil companies and insurance companies are expected to
raise rates under new higher minimum coverage requirements.
The budget also would allow Dane County
to raise its sales tax a half cent to pay for commuter rail. A car
rental fee in Kenosha, Milwaukee and Racine counties could increase
from $2 to $16 to pay for commuter rail there.
Even after all the work to address the
$6.6 billion budget shortfall, Assembly Minority Leader Rep. Jeff
Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said he expects the Legislature to be back
later this year taking more action to balance the books.
There are signs that the state's budget
woes won't go away, even if the economy improves. The nonpartisan
Legislative Fiscal Bureau projects the state will begin its next
two-year budget cycle in 2011 facing a $2.2 billion hole.
"You think this one's bad, wait
until you see the next budget," Fitzgerald said.
Despite Republicans' opposition, it
will be hard for them to get traction complaining about a plan that
cuts government and furloughs workers without raising general sales or
income taxes, said Mordecai Lee, a political science professor at the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
By raising income taxes on those
earning over $300,000 a year and proposing to tax large oil companies,
Democrats have put Republicans in the position of defending wealthy
people and big oil, said Lee, a former Democratic state lawmaker.
Priebus, the Republican Party chairman,
called that a "smoke and mirrors argument."
Doyle, who is expected to seek
re-election to a third term next year, and Democrats who wrote the
budget argue it's a responsible plan that protects middle class
taxpayers in difficult times.
"This did avoid middle class tax
increases," said Doyle's spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner. "That
was the framework he set up. To do that, he had to make significant,
deep cuts across state government but he did it in a way that did the
least amount of damage to education and public safety."
At the insistence of Doyle, the budget
proposal includes no general sales or income tax increases. But it
raises income taxes on families earning more than $300,000 a year and
lowers income tax exclusions on capital gains. It also increases
cigarette taxes by 75 cents a pack to $2.52 and places a new 75-cent
fee on cell phones, land lines and any other device that can call 911.
It also makes deep cuts, which account
for a 3.2 percent drop in state tax dollar spending over the two year
period. Overall, spending from all sources would increase 6.3 percent
largely due to about $3.7 billion in federal stimulus money.
Most state agencies will be cut around
6 percent, state workers are being forced to take 16 unpaid days off,
and unless unions agree to rescind a 2 percent pay raise, up to 1,400
state workers may be laid off.
State aid to schools would be cut 3.1
percent, while a law that has effectively kept teacher salaries in
check would go away after one more year.
"There are a lot of sacrifices all
across the board," Sensenbrenner said. "Clearly there are
going to be cuts that people are going to feel."
The new budget takes effect July 1.
Lawmakers and the governor hope to have it enacted by the end of the
month.
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