Campaigning ahead of his re-election in 2014, Gov. Scott Walker made this pledge regarding the state budget:
"Every year we have a surplus, which we've had the last couple years, we're going to continue to put that right back into the hands of the people who earned it, the hard-working taxpayers of this state," he said.
Reviewing this promise in August 2015, we rated it In the Works.
That's because, in the 2013-'15 state budget, Walker and the Republican-majority Legislature suspended a state law requiring the state to put half its surplus into the state's rainy-day fund. That allowed them to provide additional tax cuts.
But there was no such surplus with the 2015-'17 state budget — thus, nothing to return to taxpayers.
Walker has one more biennial budget before his term ends, so we'll see if another surplus emerges.
In the meantime, we'll leave our rating at In the Works.