Newsmakers: New Budget Deficit
A drop in two-year Wisconsin tax collections of only 1% — an understandable change in a still-struggling economy when you are dealing with tax collections that total $14 billion a year — resulted in the new projected $143-million state budget deficit by mid-2013, Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance President Todd Berry said. In the Feb. 13 Newsmakers interview. Berry said Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s claim that the overall state budget is in better shape is generally true now, although there would be no deficit if Walker and Republican legislators had set more cash aside for downturns like the 1% drop in tax collections. Berry also said the structual deficit — the long-term imbalance between tax collections and spending — may also be positive for the first time in many years.
