The property tax bill on the typical Wisconsin home would rise by less than 1% annually over the next two years under Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget, the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office reported Friday.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau also said Walker's plan would put the state's finances in the best shape they've been in for more than 15 years.
It found the so-called structural deficit - the imbalance between spending and tax revenue as laid out in state law - for the 2013-'15 budget would be $31 million. That assumes Walker's budget passes the Legislature without new spending increases or tax cuts that would add to the deficit.
Under its existing form, Walker's budget leaves the state with a fraction of the structural deficits seen in the past eight budget cycles. The next lowest structural deficit in recent years was $1.5 billion, or 48 times as much as what Walker's proposing.
Republicans are hailing it, Democrats are criticizing it, but the non-partisan organization set up to run the figures has no political agenda and shows that the voters who elected Walker got exactly what they asked for.
A budget that helps put their fiscal house in order.
Our politicians in Washington could certainly learn something from Scott Walker.
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