Everybody is aghast at the latest claims from the Doyle administration that Wisconsin is facing a $5 billion $5.4 billion $5.7 billion $5.9 billion $6.5 billion deficit in the upcoming budget. Honestly, that is the last time you will hear that huge number from me, because it is based on the original agency spending requests, requests that were supposedly addressed in the introduced budget, and thus is a bogus number.
Instead, let’s focus on the change in the last two numbers, because that hasn’t been addressed. That’s $600 million, and it’s there because tax revenues continue to nose-dive off the cliff even as both spending and tax rates skyrocket. In response, Doyle has called for some high-profile “belt-tightening”.
However, do not confuse “belt-tightening” for “actual, honest-to-goodness cuts”. Spending in the next budget will still increase by $2.8 billion over the previous budget. Not so coincidentally, that is the same amount as the increase in spending that Doyle originally wanted way back in November.
