GOP eyeing tax cut as they prepare to gut Evers’ plan

MADISON, Wis. — Republicans who head the Legislature’s budget committee told Wisconsin’s business leaders on Wednesday that they are optimistic a tax cut will be a part of the next two-year spending plan, although they said details on what type and how much were still being discussed. The committee co-chairs, Sen. Howard Marklein and Rep. Mark Born, told a virtual meeting of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce on Wednesday that they were optimistic given strong revenue projections that there will be room for a tax cut in the next budget. Democratic Rep. Evan Goyke, a member of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee, said cutting taxes would be much easier if Republicans would accept Medicaid expansion and the $1.6 billion that comes with it. Other Evers proposals that Republicans planned to kill Thursday included legalizing and taxing marijuana; raising the minimum wage to $10.15 per hour by 2024; restoring public workers’ collective bargaining rights that were lost in the Act 10 law; suspending enrollment in the private school voucher program; and creating a so-called red flag law that would allow guns to be seized from people deemed to be a danger by courts.