(The Center Square) – Sen. Chris Kapenga, was one of three Senate Republicans against Wisconsin’s $1.8 billion tax deal last week, said the plan to send taxpayers rebate checks of up to $600 was fiscally irresponsible.
“This is one-time money that was collected extra for the taxpayers,” the Republican from Delafield said in a broadcast interview. “We don’t want to do extra spending that is recurring, because that gets us into trouble financially.”
Kapenga also said there was never an agreement on the plan.
“There was no vote count taken at any point in the time up until probably the Monday before they started pinging people, and what happened was there were a couple of leaders in both the Assembly and in the Senate, along with the governor, who said we’ll just get it done and we’ll just push it to the floor and they’ll vote for it without talking to their caucus, which was really upsetting for me,” Kapenga said.
Democrat Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, also said there wasn’t an agreement on the tax deal before last week’s vote.
“Frankly, I think our Senate Republican colleagues, including Sen. LeMahieu, should have known from the start that just like the budget, there were likely going to need our help,” Spreitzer said, referring to Devin LeMahieu.
Spreitzer said in the budget process, there was negotiation with Gov. Tony Evers.
“I think if we had been able to play that role here, we could have ended up with a much better deal that could have actually become law,” he said.
The tax deal would have included those rebate checks, plus an end to taxes on tips and overtime in Wisconsin. It also would have sent about $600 million to local schools either to “buy down” local property taxes, or pay for special education needs.
Kapenga said there is “zero” percent that the plan will see another vote before November’s election.
