This post originally appeared at https://wisconsindailystar.com/news/gov-evers-open-to-tax-cut-for-wisconsin-retirees/tcsquare/2024/01/10/

by Benjamin Yount

Wisconsin’s governor may be softening on a tax cut for retirees in the state.

Gov. Tony Evers was a guest on Capital City Sunday on television in Madison. He said he’s open to the idea of a tax cut for retirees in the state.

“I’ll need to see what’s in the bill,” Evers said “I’m not opposed to lowering the tax burden on retirees. But which retirees? Those that may have no need for that tax cut, or those that are in need of it?”

Evers said any tax cut that mostly benefits the “very, very wealthy” is a non-starter.

The governor also said he may be looking to use a retiree tax cut as a bargaining chip with Republican lawmakers.

“If we can get some place there, maybe [we can get] a quid pro quo on the Republican side with something around child care,” Evers said. “You know we have $7 billion in our coffers. The child care industry is very, very fragile, and I believe that we should be helping out those providers of child care.”

Evers has been pushing for the state to spend more on child care since the federal coronavirus emergency order expired last year, and the Child Care Counts program ended.

Republicans have proposed ending the income tax for retirees in Wisconsin. The hope, they say, is to make Wisconsin more attractive to retirees and help keep people in the state.

Evers’ trade may be a tough sell among Republicans, however. The Republican-controlled legislature continues to want the governor to sign on to a broader, $2.5 billion tax cut for most taxpayers in the state.

Evers has refused to do that, claiming the Republican plan is a tax cut for millionaires.

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Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Tony Evers” by Senator Melissa Agard.

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