Bipartisan 2021-23 budget does include a middle-class tax cut

In signing the state budget into law on July 8, 2021, Gov. Tony Evers OK’d a Republican plan for tax cuts that would reduce the state’s third tax bracket to 5.3%. 

Tax cuts were at the heart of the GOP-written, $87.3 billion spending plan, to which Evers made only minor vetoes. That tax bracket includes individual Wisconsinites making as much as $263,000 a year and married residents making as much as $351,000. 

In his original campaign promise, Evers said he would cut income taxes in his first budget for individuals making up to $100,000 and families making up to $150,000. 

While the cut didn’t happen until his second budget, and isn’t as targeted at people making less as he had originally proposed — about three-quarters of the tax cuts would go to those making $100,000 or more a year — it still accomplishes his end goal. 

That said, the original promise was for the cut to be achieved in his first budget. With that in mind, we give this a final rating of Compromise.