H 23°, L 4° | Tomorrow: 
H 21°, L 6°(AP) - Wisconsin’s budget deficit has ballooned to $6.6 billion because of falling state tax collections, grim news that could foreshadow deep cuts to state programs, according to a report released Monday.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau report said the projected deficit has increased by $1.6 billion through June 30, 2011, because individual and corporate income tax revenue has been far less than projected in January.
The figure is even worse than the $1 billion to $1.5 billion that Gov. Jim Doyle and lawmakers said last week they expected to be added to the state’s $5 billion budget deficit.
In anticipation of the drop, Doyle announced a plan to lay off up to 1,100 state workers, to require most of the state work force to take 16 days off without pay over two years and to cancel 2 percent raises that many workers were expecting this summer.
Most agencies would have their budgets cut by 5 percent under his plan, which would not raise taxes. He also said cuts to education, state aid for cities and health care programs will be necessary.
Democrats who control the Legislature said they were reviewing Doyle’s plan and would consider all options, including budget cuts and tax increases, to solve the deficit. Monday’s report underscored the severity of the problem.
Tax revenues are expected to drop $408 million through June 30 and by $573 million and $622 million in the following two budget years compared to estimates issued in January, the report said.
Individual income tax revenues plummeted 35.8 percent in April compared to the previous year as the state’s unemployment rate shot up, the report found. Overall, they are down this year by 8.3 percent. Corporate income taxes are also down.
The state has lost 100,000 jobs since March 2008 and statewide unemployment of 9.4 percent is at a 26-year high.
State Rep. Robin Vos, a member of the Legislature’s budget committee, said the report showed “a fairly dramatic decline in state revenues.” He said Doyle’s proposed cuts were a step in the right direction but still would likely not go far enough to balance the budget.
“What we’re seeing is this economy is really hitting people all across the board,” said Vos, R-Racine.
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Tax the rich, feed the poor Till there are no rich no more
But then who are you going to tax? Can’t tax the poor. With no producers (the rich), the poor starve.
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Doyle is coming for students seg fee reserves!!!! What does that mean? It means that instead of reducing seg fees any reserved amount will go to reduce the states deficit!
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Ahem…. a shred of honesty, please! A 6.6 Billion dollar annual state deficit is not a simple “short fall”, as the soft pitch headline implies.
A 6.6 Billion dollar annual state deficit is a chasm created by legislator and govenor malfeasance. It is a widening gulf dredged by failed leadership, nepotism, and cronyism. It is a cataclysmic case of opportunities lost because Doyle and the Democrat controlled state government have continued their pork barrel spending into a deepening recession, far beyond the neccessities of the state budget and the citizens ability to pay for it all . It is dishonest. It is callously stupid and wrong by every measure of fiscal responsibility.
How does this occur? You keep voting for them.
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2:04, you’re an idiot. It’s called a shortfall because that’s how SHORT the state is FALLING of its goal. It’s a state government. State governments can’t have defects, they have to EVENTUALLY balance the budget or else the state shuts down. And it occurred because the state is trying to hang on to tax revenue projections that were used in the 2007-09 biennium (when times were good) in the 2009-11 biennium (when times aren’t so good.)
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2:51pm
I see why you respond as you do. You keep voting for them.
Like the empathetic fool that supplies alcohol to an alcoholic, you enable their addiction to deficit spending. And you keep voting for them.
Like the empathetic fool that excuses an alcoholics drunken ways, you provide excuses for their pork barrel spending. And you keep voting for them.
You enable them to spend more money than the taxpayers can provide, because you keep voting for them. And you have the temerity to label as “idiots” those who seek honesty, integrity, lower taxes and balanced budgets from our out of control state legislators and govenor.
I see why you respond as you do. You are part of the problem.
Hope…….
Change……
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Time to pay the piper chumps.
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Stop the dancing.
Tell the Piper he’s farked.