WILL: Evers’ Speech Missing Tax Cuts and Free Market Solutions
The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) has released its response to Governor Tony Evers’ 2024 State of the State Address. WILL agrees on the importance of improving Wisconsin’s workforce and economy, but some of the governor’s policy solutions fall short. Also, WILL supports using the state’s historic surplus toward meaningful tax cuts for Wisconsin’s taxpayers.
The Quote: WILL Policy Director, Kyle Koenen, stated, “Governor Evers spoke at length about how government can solve every problem, when in fact government is the problem. This year, the governor should take the opportunity to work alongside legislators to deliver common sense market-based reforms to improve the lives of Wisconsinites. He can start by acting on meaningful tax cuts that return more money into the hands of hard-working Wisconsin taxpayers.”
Evers Identified some real problems, but failed to identify real solutions:
- Taxes: Governor Evers should support tax cuts. A record surplus means the government is taking in more money than ever, and more needs to be returned to the Wisconsin taxpayer. Tax proposals introduced today are worth a look.
- Education: Wisconsin spends nearly $17,000 per student on public education and more than $8 billion overall, yet where are the results? Reading proficiency remains around 40%, and the state has some of the largest racial achievement gaps in the nation. We have outlined several initiatives to increase education performance over the past year, and the governor could show some courage on acting on them.
- Healthcare: Rather than focusing on partisan ideas, the Governor should focus on bipartisan solutions like healthcare price transparency and repealing the Minimum Markup on prescription drugs that would work to lower costs for Wisconsin families.
- Government-Only Solutions: Child care, housing, and health care can be solved by free market principles, reducing barriers to occupational licensing would also significantly address much of what the governor discussed tonight.
