How State Lawmakers’ Power Grab Harms Communities of Color Local control means that communities have the ability to protect and empower workers, improve the health of their residents, make sure housing is safe, and take steps to address the harmful effects of racial discrimination. These functions are especially important during the pandemic, which has sickened many people in Wisconsin and led to job and housing insecurity, especially for residents of color. However, the Wisconsin legislature has systematically prohibited Wisconsin local governments from successfully taking on these tasks ..read more

Eliminating Wisconsin’s income tax would funnel enormous tax cuts into the pockets of the wealthy and powerful, potentially raise taxes on people with the lowest incomes, and make it nearly impossible for Wisconsin to make the kind of investments that make the state a good place to live, do business, and raise a family. It would also widen the already-large gaps in well-being among people of different races, a gap that continues to hamstring Wisconsin’s economy. All that hasn’t stopped an influential cabal of lobbyists and lawmakers from trying to do away with Wisconsin’s income tax and with i ..read more

The COVID pandemic and the recession it caused illustrated the tremendous importance of public benefit programs like BadgerCare, FoodShare, and Unemployment Insurance. Yet a number of Republican legislators are trying to hurriedly pass a package of bills that would weaken the sources of public assistance that have been so critical over the past two years in reducing the pandemic’s harm to workers, families and the economy. The package of bills is being promoted as a way of strengthening the workforce, but it is much more likely to have the opposite effect because it would weaken programs like ..read more

A group of conservative business lobbyists have proposed a radical change that would raise taxes on people with the lowest incomes to cover part of the cost of giving huge tax cuts to the wealthy and powerful. The plan would result in the largest tax cuts going to white households, with households of color receiving smaller tax cuts or having to pay more in taxes. The enormous cost of the proposal would make it difficult for the state to provide even basic public services that schools, businesses, and families need to thrive.  Last month, an influential group of lobbyists released a propo ..read more

The failure of the Senate to pass the Build Back Better act means that the families of more than a million Wisconsin children are going to miss out on the advance Child Tax Credit payments and other improvements to the credit that helped parents make ends meet in the second half of last year. These improvements helped close gaps in child well-being between White children and children of color – gaps that are rooted in historical and present-day racial discrimination in Wisconsin’s schools, health care system, housing and job market. January 15 will mark the first time in six months that famili ..read more

Low-paid workers across the country are getting raises because 21 states and 35 cities and counties increased their minimum wages around the beginning of the year. Those raises will lift workers out of poverty, help struggling families make ends meet, and make it easier for workers to achieve financial security. A minimum wage increase gives a particular boost to workers of color, for whom a long history of wage discrimination has depressed wages. Unfortunately, Wisconsin workers won’t get any of those benefits, as Wisconsin lawmakers have refused to increase the state’s minimum wage for more ..read more

Wisconsin’s use of incarceration to lock up a staggering share of its population of color inflicts serious harm on individuals and communities. New figures show that the racial disparities in Wisconsin’s incarceration rates far exceed disparities at the national level, which themselves are stark. The result is a system that deepens the divide between Whites and people of color, and uses public resources to do so. Some drivers of the disparities in incarceration rates have their roots in historical and present-day racial discrimination in Wisconsin’s housing, health care system, schools, and jo ..read more

Printable version The governor’s budget included a number of significant changes in early education policy and financing that would have improved the well-being of our young children, reduced racial disparities, helped parents participate in the workforce, and boosted Wisconsin’s long-term prosperity. Unfortunately, aside from adding federal money to the child care subsidy program and adopting a state version of the child care tax credit, none of these changes were approved in the final budget for 2021-23. Some of these missed opportunities include: Improving Access to Quality, Affordable Chi ..read more

Wisconsin lawmakers passed an enormous income tax cut in the 2021-23 state budget that further tilts our tax system in favor of the wealthy. The tax cut almost completely leaves out households with low incomes, and gives White households larger tax cuts than Black or Latinx households.  The tax cut, which costs a billion dollars a year, reduces the tax rate for the second-highest income bracket from 6.27% to 5.3%, while leaving the rates for lower brackets unchanged. This approach slants the tax cut in favor of households with higher incomes and leaves out many with low incomes.  Thi ..read more

How State Lawmakers’ Power Grab Harms Communities of Color Local control means that communities have the ability to protect and empower workers, improve the health of their residents, make sure housing is safe, and take steps to address the harmful effects of racial discrimination. These functions are especially important during the pandemic, which has sickened many people in Wisconsin and led to job and housing insecurity, especially for residents of color. However, the Wisconsin legislature has systematically prohibited Wisconsin local governments from successfully taking on these tasks ..read more