(The Center Square) – The latest look by a conservative think tank at the savings of Act 10 has a new price tag.
The MacIver Institute released its latest analysis of Act 10, and the now decade-plus impact it’s had on the tax burden in Wisconsin.
“Every year, the MacIver Institute calculates the estimated savings achieved through Act 10’s requirement that public employees pay 12.6% of their health insurance premiums and half of their pension contributions,” MacIver’s report states.
MacIver’s analysts say the latest price tag for savings is $35.6 billion.
“This only captures a portion of Act 10’s impact. The law also provided local government with the flexibility to prioritize fiscal and operational efficiency, rather than union contracts. Those indirect savings are incalculable,” the report said.
Act 10 became law in 2011 when then Gov. Scott Walker signed it. Since then, Act 10 has been the center of praise from Republicans, and criticism from Democrats in Wisconsin.
It has also changed how local governments have dealt with budgets and changed how much taxpayers have had to pay.
“Those savings don’t just exist on paper. They have a real impact in the real world,” MacIver CEO Annette Olson said. “Thanks to Act 10, today Wisconsin is considered to be one of the most financially responsible states in the country with routine budget surpluses, a robust rainy-day fund, and a fully funded state pension system.”
To get to its $35.6 billion savings price tag, MacIver added the $13.8 billion in employee pension contributions since 2012 under Act-10, and the $21.8 billion in total health care savings since 2012 from Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, the DPI and the State Health Insurance Program.
Olson added that “none of this would have been possible without the passage of Act 10 back in 2011.”
Act 10’s future savings, however, are less certain.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is weighing Act-10’s constitutionality after a Dane County judge ruled the law cannot continue as is.
If Act 10 is struck down by the court, MacIver thinks the savings will go away and a wave of local tax increases might follow.
