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Reports

A Decade After Historic Cuts, Wisconsin Still Hasn’t Fully Restored State Aid for Public School Districts

January 27, 2020 — Despite recent increases, Wisconsin’s public K-12 school districts still receive less in state aid than they did a decade ago, prior to historic cuts to education. During that timeframe, state lawmakers chose to pass large tax cuts instead of investing the money in local schools. Lawmakers are also increasingly diverting resources allocated for education to private schools and independent charter schools, reducing the resources available for public school districts, which educate the vast majority of Wisconsin students.

Missing Out: Residents with Low Incomes Pay More Under New Budget

July 24, 2019 — State tax policies can be a powerful tool for expanding opportunity and enhancing racial and ethnic equity. But right now, Wisconsin’s tax system calls on the richest residents to pay the smallest share of their income in taxes and requires residents with low and moderate incomes to pay more than their fair share. The legislature rejected Governor Evers’ proposed tax changes in his 2019-21 budget plan that would have reshaped Wisconsin’s tax code to give less of an advantage to the wealthy, by reining in tax breaks for the rich and redirecting the benefits to the middle class and people with low incomes.

A Blueprint for Stronger Growth and Shared Prosperity

March 5, 2019 – Everyone in Wisconsin deserves the opportunity to fully benefit from the state’s economic growth. Our economy, our communities, our schools, and our families will fare better when every person in the state has full access to opportunity. This document outlines four key strategies for enabling Wisconsin to move forward on a path to shared prosperity.

Ensuring Working Families Can Succeed

February 15, 2019 — All Wisconsin workers should be able to support their families, put food on the table, and make ends meet. This short issue brief describes how state lawmakers can make common-sense reforms that support workers and boost the economy and narrow the divide in our state—a divide that disproportionately causes economic hardship for families of color.

Creating a More Equitable Tax Code

February 1, 2019 — Wisconsin’s tax system is a major driver of economic inequality and contributes to the increasing concentration of income and wealth in a few hands—hands that are most likely to be white, due to a long history of racial discrimination. This short report outlines options for using tax policy to help expand opportunity and enhance racial equity.

Building Revenue for Shared Priorities

February 1, 2019 — For Wisconsin’s economy to work for everyone, our state needs to invest in healthy and well-educated workers and communities, public infrastructure, and working families.

Foxconn Lessons – One Year after Enactment

September 19, 2018 — September 18 marked the one-year anniversary of the bill authorizing massive subsidies for a Foxconn plant in southeast Wisconsin. Although we still don’t know many specifics about the plant that will be built and the new jobs that will result, we have learned a lot in the last year, and the current picture is considerably different than what we had been led to believe a year ago.

The Threat of a Constitutional Convention to Enact a Balanced Budget Amendment

September 22, 2017 — A national effort is underway to pass state resolutions calling for a Constitutional convention to reduce the authority and powers of the federal government, including a balanced budget amendment. While the intended goals of this effort are to limit federal spending and bolster the U.S. economy, economists overwhelmingly believe a balanced budget amendment would weaken the economy, especially during economic downturns, and lead to severe spending cuts in key areas – such as education, social security, and healthcare.