Wisconsin Schools: Are We Making the Grade?

A new analysis by the Wisconsin Budget Project finds that Wisconsin is no longer much ahead of the curve on school spending and staffing. Once a national leader in educational innovation and performance, Wisconsin’s investment in K-12 education has slipped significantly relative to other states over the past decade, and it now ranks near the national average on many measures of support for public education.

LFB Clarifies Effect of ARRA Funds on the Medicaid Deficit, But Newer Estimates Coming Soon

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) issued new figures last week relating to the effect of the extended federal fiscal relief for Medicaid on Wisconsin’s Medicaid (and BadgerCare Plus) deficit. The LFB memo clarifies a number of important fiscal issues, but it will be superseded in a couple of weeks by new DHS estimates of the deficit.

New Study on Itemized Deductions Released

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has released a new study on itemized deductions for income taxes. These deductions have a negative effect on tax fairness, with most of the benefit accruing to high-income taxpayers. Most states follow in the footsteps of the federal government in their approaches towards itemized deductions, but the good news is that Wisconsin is in the minority of states that take a variety of approaches to limit the regressive nature of the deductions.

What Tax Cut Proposals Could Mean for Wisconsinites

The Bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2010, and President Obama and Congressional Republicans have offered competing proposals as to which aspects of the tax cuts should be continued. The two approaches would result similar effects for middle and upper middle-income taxpayers in Wisconsin, but they would have different impacts for low-income and especially for the very highest income groups.

CBPP Offers another Critique of Rep. Ryan’s “Roadmap for America’s Future

Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) has been getting a lot of press in recent months, after developing specific recommendations for addressing the federal budget deficit. (See, for example, the major article in the Aug. 2 New York Times). He calls his plan the Roadmap for America’s Future (version 2.0).  A recent CBPP blog post critiques the Ryan Roadmap. 

WBP Releases Analysis of Stimulus Benefits

Happy half-birthday to The Recovery Act!

Tomorrow marks the 18-month anniversary of The Recovery Act. To celebrate, the Wisconsin Budget Project has released an analysis that found that six types of direct benefits provided by the Act generated more than $3 billion for Wisconsin residents between February 2009 and May 2010. Wisconsin residents have received an average of $532 in direct benefits per person.

Refund Anticipation Loans: Goodbye and Good Riddance

“Get your tax refund sooner!” advertise some tax preparers come tax season. Take out your glasses and read the fine print, though, because this way of receiving your tax refund is actually a loan, and one that carries a heavy price. Thanks to a policy change made by the IRS, these refund anticipation loans (also known as RALs) may be a relic of the past.

Tax and spending rankings: Test your knowledge with our quiz

The Wisconsin Budget Project recently analyzed the new U.S. Census Bureau data (from fiscal year 2008) regarding state and local revenue and spending, and we prepared a short paper showing the rankings and how they have change since 2000. We also prepared an updated version of our tax and spending quiz about how Wisconsin compares to other states.

The Bad News about the Good News

Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is inching downwards. That’s the good news.

Unfortunately, the lower unemployment rate means that Wisconsin residents will be eligible for fewer weeks of unemployment benefits: a maximum of 93 weeks, down from 99 weeks. That’s the bad news. What’s more, if our unemployment level continues to decrease (good news!), we may soon drop down to a maximum of 86 weeks of unemployment benefits (bad news).

Unraveling the reasons for the change in the number of weeks of benefits requires a little bit of math and a high tolerance for acronyms. The equation looks like this: 93 weeks of benefits available in Wisconsin = 26 weeks of UI + 47 weeks of EUC + 20 weeks of EB. Let’s take a closer look at that equation to break it down into understandable components.

U.S. Senate Approves State Help for Medicaid and Education

Finally some very good fiscal news for states and schools! The U.S. Senate voted 61 to 39 Thursday to pass a deficit-neutral bill that provides funding to states for Medicaid relief and education. The House plans to take up the bill, H.R. 1586, next week, probably on Tuesday, August 10. Although House passage seems likely, it is by no means assured.

Stimulus Effort Creates or Saves 63,000 Jobs in Wisconsin

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) created or saved between 2.5 and 3.6 million jobs as of the second quarter of 2010, according to a recent report by the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA). The report estimated that 63,000 of those jobs were in Wisconsin.

Senate Vote Delayed until Wednesday on Funding for Medicaid and Teachers

The U.S. Senate had scheduled a vote for late Monday afternoon (Aug. 2) on a bill that would provide Wisconsin an estimated $365 million, according to the State Budget Office.  However, the vote on that bill (HR 1586) has been delayed for a couple of days, because the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said today that the costs exceed the offsets by $4.9 billion.  Senator Reid and others will take the next two days to recraft the package so it's deficit neutral. 

Congress has been attempting for months to provide additional fiscal relief to states to avoid deeper cuts that would ripple through the economy and undermine the shaky economic recovery. However, the Senate has been unable to muster the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster of the bill.