
Lawmakers on the state’s Joint Finance Committee, in the final act of their budget deliberations, approved more than $450 million in new income tax cuts that, by early estimates, would reduce the average recipient’s taxes by about $136 annually by 2020.
Lawmakers did so through a $322 million two-year reduction in the biennial budget bill and by passing a separate bill that would further lower income taxes by about $136 million in 2020.
The income tax reduction in the budget, which JFC Republicans approved 12-4 along party lines, is smaller than the $833 million reduction proposed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. But unlike the governor, Republicans would not increase taxes on large manufacturers to pay for the cuts.
The budget bill now goes to the full Senate and Assembly, which could vote on the package as early as the 25th of June.
Under the separate bill, which JFC lawmakers approved unanimously, income taxes would be cut by roughly $136 million in 2020, on top of the roughly $61 million cut already written into law.
The state would get the funding for this second income tax cut by streamlining language in an existing law allowing the state to collect online sales tax from remote sellers following a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The tax cuts in the bill would reduce the average recipient’s taxes by $59 in 2020, according to early estimates.
In total, Republicans are slated to approve about $514 million in tax cuts through the budget and the separate piece of legislation.
Under the bill, the state’s two lowest income tax rates would fall from 4% and 5.84% to 3.76% and 4.93%, respectively. The top two rates, currently set at 6.27% and 7.65%, would remain unchanged.
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