The Latest ‘Wisconsin Comeback’ Under Gov. Walker: Budget Deficits

MADISON, Wis. — In a recent TV ad the increasingly desperate campaign of Gov. Walker claims to have eliminated budget deficits. But the release of new tax collection figures could put the current budget crafted by Gov. Walker and the GOP-controlled legislature hundreds of millions of dollars out of balance and balloon a projected shortfall in the next budget to well over $1 billion.

“Gov. Walker’s reckless fiscal policies and the complete failure of his trickle-down economic agenda are coming home to roost,” said One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. “It looks like you can add budget deficits to the growing list of unwelcome ‘Wisconsin comebacks’ Scott Walker is subjecting the state to.”

According to figures released today by the state Department of Revenue, General Purpose Revenue tax collections have fallen over $281 million short of projected revenues upon which the state’s current 2013 budget was built. Gov. Walker’s budget fiasco is bad news for the next budget too, potentially ballooning the projected ‘structural deficit’ in the 2015 budget to well over $1 billion.

Ross noted this is just the latest in a series of distressing signs of the utter failure of the Walker economic agenda. Wisconsin is last in the Midwest on jobs and income growth under the current administration and now faces a significant budget crunch.

He concluded, “These revenue numbers are yet another sign of the economic train wreck engineered by Gov. Walker and the GOP-led legislature. They’ve broken it, and now they owe the people of Wisconsin straight answers, not spin, about how they’re going to fix it.”