Proposals to eliminate Wisconsin's income tax are all the rage among conservative legislators right now. Here are three reasons that's a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea. 👇 1️⃣ Eliminating the income tax would give *enormous* tax cuts to the top 1%, a group with an average income of $1.7 million. Households in this group would get an average tax cut of $86K -- more than a typical WI family earns in a whole year! 😮

We've got some new, eye-popping estimates for the cost of state tax cuts that have funneled money into the pockets of the wealthiest people in Wisconsin. These amounts come from tax changes made between fiscal years 2012-23, and represent the total cost over that period.

👇👀 😮 $2.8 billion for the Manufacturing Credit. Most of that credit goes to people who are already millionaires. Tax filers with incomes of at least $1 million make up just 0.2% of WI tax filers, but they claim 76% of the credit.

The Wisconsin Assembly passed a bill barring schools from teaching about system racism and other topics. Would you like to see the whole list of what it would prohibit teaching kids? I know the answer is yes! Keep reading and hunker down, because it's quite a list! 👇 By the way, districts that violate this ban would forfeit 10% of their state aid. For Milwaukee Public Schools, that would mean the district would lose about $72 million for, say, teaching social emotional learning.

Today, WI lawmakers said they had allocated $500M more for K-12 education. Turns out, they were a counting $350M deposit to the state's *rainy day fund* as money for schools, even though there would be absolutely no requirement that the money be used for schools.

Thread. To clarify: Most of the money that lawmakers are saying they are allocating to schools would, in fact, not need to be used on schools. That money could be used for schools, but it could also be used to build roads, cut taxes, or to buy everybody in WI an ice cream sandwich. Mmm.

The WI legislature won't meet to consider @GovEvers' proposal to expand BadgerCare, which would bring in $1.6 billion in federal money over the next 2 yrs.

Here's how the Gov wants to use that money, which the legislature is refusing. Hunker down, it's quite a list! 1/many Statewide investments include...
* $200M for broadband
* $100M to replace lead service lines
* $50M for mental health
* $50M for veteran housing
* $30M to improve our ability to identify pathogens
* $25M for tourism
* $5M DNR stewardship projects
* $3M opioid data system
+more

WI Assembly Republicans released a bill that is theoretically a COVID-19 plan but in reality is a thinly-cloaked attempt to strip power from schools, local officials, and the Governor, and give that power to legislative leaders instead. 🧵 Let's start with schools. Under this bill, it would take a super-majority of the school board to approve online instruction, and even then, the approval would only be good for two weeks, at which point the board would have to re-approve online instruction.

Five (and a half) interesting items tucked into the budget requests of Wisconsin state agencies: bit.ly/2JsVnyV 1/ Downgrade marijuana possession to an ordinance violation for first and second offenses, misdemeanor for third offense. (Currently, possession is a misdemeanor for first offense, felony thereafter.) This would save the Public Defender's Office half a million dollars/yr.

WI Republican legislative leaders are holding millions of dollars in federal Medicaid and unemployment benefits hostage, as legislators try to force Gov Evers to cede some of his powers to the Republican-controlled legislature.

Thread. 1/n, sigh. Recognizing the high costs of fighting the virus, the feds have made additional Medicaid funding available to states. In WI, the lame duck law blocks Gov Evers from taking steps to accept this $ without getting approval from the legislature. More:

https://twitter.com/Tamarine608/status/1247576840337752066?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

THREAD: How Wisconsin's lame duck law is hurting our capacity to fight the pandemic.

41 states that have submitted waivers to strengthen the capacity of their Medicaid programs to respond to the pandemic. WI isn't among them. Here's why.

1/n Gov Evers proposed a waiver, but because of limits on executive power the Republican legislature made between the period Gov Evers was elected and when he took office, the full legislature now needs to explicitly approve the changes. And the full legislature hasn't met.

For our economy to work for everyone, Wisconsin needs to invest in strong communities. But WI has gone back on a commitment to providing resources to local governments, forcing them to implement taxes and fees that fall most heavily on residents with the lowest incomes. (1/7) The biggest & most flexible source of state support to local govts, Shared Revenue, fell 47% between 1996 & 2020. (2/7)

In wake of being named worst area for African-Americans (bit.ly/2OfA42H), Racine mayor talks about how the legacy of segregation continues into the current day. His comments reminded me of current-day efforts by the WI legislature to further segregate Racine schools. 1/9 In the 2017-19 budget, WI lawmakers included a provision to encourage wealthier, less racially diverse areas of the Racine district to break off and form their own separate districts, concentrating poorer students in the remaining portion. 2/9

Wisconsin's Manufacturing & Ag Credit: Stay with me, I know it sounds boring, but if you look under the hood you can see one of the most skewed, ineffective tax cuts in WI. @GovWalker (pro) and @Tony4WI (con) have been speaking out about the credit...here are 6 things to know. #1 The MAC (Manuf & Ag Credit) strips resources from important public priorities that are vital to the economic well-being of businesses and families. Big time, too -- to the tune of $1.4 billion over the last 7 years, and $334 million in this year alone.