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Racial Equity

The 2023-25 State Budget Should Support Wisconsin Families Who Are Struggling to Get By

From Racine to Rice Lake, Wisconsinites work hard to provide for their families. In the wake of the pandemic, the rising cost of goods and services has mahttps://wisconsinbudgetproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Revenue-2-4-13-2023.pdfde it difficult for many to make ends meet. And for too long, certain politicians have created barriers… Read More »The 2023-25 State Budget Should Support Wisconsin Families Who Are Struggling to Get By

Governor’s Proposed Budget Provides Opportunity for Wisconsinites Who are Immigrants

March 16, 2023 Every Wisconsinite deserves to provide for their children and families, regardless of immigration status. Wisconsin is home to a diverse population of immigrants, contributing to our communities’ economic and social fabric. Despite the immense asset this diverse population brings to communities across… Read More »Governor’s Proposed Budget Provides Opportunity for Wisconsinites Who are Immigrants

Governor’s Proposed Budget Provides Wisconsin Children and Families with a Clear Path to a New Model of Youth Justice

March 9, 2023 Systemic racism and ongoing forms of injustice play a crucial role in youth of color being over-represented at all points of contact within the criminal legal system — from policing to courts to incarceration. The interplay of the historical and systemic harm of racism,… Read More »Governor’s Proposed Budget Provides Wisconsin Children and Families with a Clear Path to a New Model of Youth Justice

Tax Shift Would Hike Taxes for People with Low Incomes and Give a Big Tax Cut to the Top 1%

February 3, 2022 — A group of conservative business lobbyists have proposed a radical change that would raise taxes on people with the lowest incomes to cover part of the cost of giving huge tax cuts to the wealthy and powerful. The plan would result in the largest tax cuts going to white households, with households of color receiving smaller tax cuts or having to pay more in taxes. The enormous cost of the proposal would make it difficult for the state to provide even basic public services that schools, businesses, and families need to thrive. 

Four Charts that Show the Harm of Racial Disparities in Wisconsin’s Prisons

November 16, 2021 — Wisconsin’s use of incarceration to lock up a staggering share of its population of color inflicts serious harm on individuals and communities. New figures show that the racial disparities in Wisconsin’s incarceration rates far exceed disparities at the national level, which themselves are stark. The result is a system that deepens the divide between Whites and people of color, and uses public resources to do so.

Tax Changes in Budget Bill Thwart Efforts to Advance Equity

September 9, 2021 — For Wisconsin’s economy to thrive, the state needs to invest in the building blocks of shared prosperity, including high-quality early education and schools, affordable higher education, healthy workers, and strong communities. The Governor’s budget proposed making significant investments in those areas, including investments that would improve racial equity, but the final budget approved by the Legislature looks far different.

Opportunity Wasted: Legislature Removes Nearly All Items Promoting Racial Equity from the State Budget

July 2021 — On many different indicators, Wisconsin is at or very near the top in terms of the severity of racial inequities, and those gaps are holding back our state. Governor Evers’ budget contained a broad range of measures aimed at reducing the disparities in Wisconsin. However, the Republican-controlled legislature scrapped his budget and started fresh, and their budget removed almost all of the Governor’s initiatives to create a more level playing field for people of color in our state. 

Legislature’s Health Budget – Missed Opportunities for a Healthier, more Equitable Wisconsin

June 29, 2021 — The legislature’s Joint Finance Committee put forward a budget that in many ways continues the status quo while providing substantial increases for personal care services and boosting funding for certain Medicaid providers, such as dentists and emergency physicians. It also increases funding for hospitals, nursing homes, and behavioral health. However, the budget misses many opportunities to expand access to health care by rejecting BadgerCare expansion and does very little to address health disparities or maternal and child health. It further fails to pass health insurance consumer protections, allow reimbursement for community health workers and doula services, invest in public health, and expand treatment for children with high blood-lead levels.

The Governor’s Proposed Budget for K-12 Education Increases Support for Public Schools and Promotes Racial Equity

April 6, 2021 — Governor Evers has proposed a budget that significantly increases aid for Wisconsin’s public schools, targets additional resources at identified needs, promotes racial equity, and limits the amount of public money that goes to private schools. His budget includes a $1.6 billion increase in total state support for public K-12 schools over the course of the two-year budget period, which runs through June 2023.

Wisconsin’s Property Tax Code, Which Never Mentions Race, is Slanted in Favor of White Wisconsinites

November 12, 2020 — Our state and local tax code does not mention race. And yet it systematically demands that people of color pay a higher share of their income in taxes than white residents, showing that policies don’t have to explicitly mention race in order to have racially discriminatory consequences. The myth that the tax code “doesn’t see color” allows us to dismiss the role that tax policies have played in creating Wisconsin’s enormous racial disparities.