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Shrinking personal property tax could disappear for good
Wisconsin is moving closer to eliminating a business tax that has become increasingly quirky and disliked in the last few decades. The Legislature’s budget committee endorsed legislation repealing the state’s personal property tax Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Senate Economic and Workforce Development Committee similarly backed the bill. Wednesday’s vote by the Joint Finance Committee was […]
Legislation gives septic repair grant program a two-year reprieve
A state program to help property owners whose septic systems fail would get another two years to live under legislation that went to Gov. Tony Evers Tuesday. On a voice vote, the Assembly gave its assent to a Senate bill to temporarily preserve the program, which provides grants to property owners to cover 60% of […]
State health agency offers schools support for COVID-19 testing when classes resume
Along with pop quizzes, math tests and English tests, Wisconsin schools will be equipped to give students another kind of test starting in the fall semester: COVID-19 tests. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) will provide public and private schools and school districts free testing supplies and connect them with area laboratories to make […]
Ambitious Biden plans win over some Trump Country voters
On a recent Friday, Skylar Barr and his grandmother, Jan Hornewer, were two of a half-dozen Wisconsin residents on a Zoom call with an aide to U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse). The call’s purpose: to make sure that Kind knows that they were enthusiastic supporters of two big bills now working their way through […]
Assembly to vote on new GOP bills to direct pandemic relief spending
As Republican lawmakers once again try to gain some control over how Wisconsin spends $2.5 billion in federal pandemic relief funds, the Assembly is scheduled to vote Tuesday on five bills, all of them funded from that same source. All five measures were authored by GOP lawmakers and passed in committee on party line votes. […]
U.S. makes it easier to enroll in expanded child tax credit; advocates call for permanent increase
A new federal web page will make it possible for more people to sign up for a federal child tax credit that will pay families who qualify up to $300 a month per child starting in July. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) temporarily increased the amount of the tax credit for 2021, to $3,600 […]
Tax cut’s savings go to Wisconsin’s wealthiest 25%
If a $2.4 billion income tax cut from Republicans on the Legislature’s budget committee becomes law, three out of four of Wisconsin’s households will see less than $7 a week on average in additional cash. The bulk of the benefits from the tax cut proposal will go to the wealthiest one-quarter of the state — […]
Relief, applause greets Supreme Court ruling that leaves ACA intact
Wisconsin officials and health care activists welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday that upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA), keeping in place the 11-year-old law that has expanded access to health insurance. The court ruled 7-2 that the plaintiffs had no right to bring the case. But Atty. Gen. Josh Kaul suggested that the […]
Advocates: Health budget helps elderly, nursing homes, but others fall short
The state’s health care budget for the next two years has more money for nursing homes, more pay for some home caregivers and additional help for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. But it leaves out improvements in services that people with disabilities and their advocates have been campaigning for. It also provides […]
New Delta coronavirus strain surfaces, heightening importance of COVID vaccine
The newest coronavirus variant has surfaced in Wisconsin, and the state will begin tracking its presence in case counts, health officials reported Wednesday. The finding reinforces the importance of getting a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, according to the state Department of Health Services (DHS). DHS reported that 26 cases of people infected with the new […]
Baldwin urges equity firm to halt Janesville factory shutdown
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) is urging a Los Angeles private equity firm to rethink its plan to close a Janesville factory this summer, reportedly to move the work to Mexico. Baldwin sent an open letter Wednesday to OpenGate Capital CEO Andrew Nikou with a series of questions about the firm’s plan for the Hufcor plant […]
MMAC backs voting rights in principle, declines comment on GOP voter-suppression bills
Milwaukee’s largest business group distributed a declaration and a set of bullet points Tuesday embracing a broad voting rights agenda, but stopped short of either endorsing or opposing recent bills that have drawn sharp criticism from voting rights activists. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) began distributing the declaration Tuesday afternoon to people who […]