After delivering a $122 million tax rebate to Wisconsin residents earlier this session, the state legislature now has approved a tax conformity measure that an analysis says should further ease the burden on taxpayers.
Authored by Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, the conformity legislation streamlines Wisconsin’s tax code to be more up to date with the recently passed federal tax reform law.
The updates are “expected to result in millions of dollars in tax savings for a wide range of taxpayers,” according to an analysis by the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, a Wisconsin-based think tank.
“While there is more work to do, their [state government's] continued focus on reducing the tax burden and returning surplus money to taxpayers and streamlining government is to be commended,” Chris Rochester, director of Communications at the MacIver Institute, said.
One notable change will allow parents to use investments in Edvest College Savings plans for K-12 education, in parental choice programs, or with other education-related expenses, which current state law ignores.
The conformity package comes after lawmakers passed tax breaks proposed in January by Gov. Scott Walker.
The earlier tax reform legislation includes a $100 per child tax rebate for parents with children under age 18, which is estimated to return $122 million taxpayers. Lawmakers also approved a $12 million back-to-school sales tax holiday, which will take place the first week in August.
“We have a budget surplus, and it’s going back to the hardworking taxpayers who overpaid," Walker said in a statement. "Many would have liked to see this money stay in Madison to be spent on the government’s priorities. Thankfully, that’s not going to happen.“
Rochester noted that the legislature “moved significant portions of Gov. Walker's agenda, including more tax relief for Wisconsinites. The child tax rebate and sales tax holiday may not be the perfect way to enact tax relief, but it's important to note that the focus is on returning surplus revenue to the people who earned it in the first place.”
The legislature also passed a school safety bill, which Walker signed into law Monday.
The School Safety Plan provides $100 million in grant funding to all Wisconsin school districts to allow them to invest in safety measures. It creates an Office of School Safety within the Department of Justice to administer the grant program, to maintain blueprints and school safety plans for all schools, and to develop best practices for school safety. The new law requires mandatory reporting of threats of school violence by certain professionals, establishes trauma-informed care training for school staff, and site-assessments with local law enforcement.
“We are getting positive things done for the people of Wisconsin,” Walker said.
He noted that the $100 million School Safety Plan “will help ensure that every student, parent, and teacher feels safe at school,” and that the grant funding will allow districts to invest in safety measures that will help protect students, teachers and school administrators “against all threats.”
