Wisconsin's 2025 Budget Proposals from Evers and Republicans

Frederica Freyberg:
Governor Tony Evers went on a statewide swing after presenting his 2025-27 executive budget this week, emphasizing increased education, spending and tax relief.

Tony Evers:
Wisconsinites wouldn’t have to raise their own property taxes to keep school lights on and doors open if this legislature invested in K-12 education from the get-go. In the budget I’m announcing tonight proves we can both make the investments in our kids that we need to and hold the line on preventing property taxes from going up. My plan will provide nearly $2 billion in tax relief through efforts to lower property taxes, eliminate the sales tax on several everyday expenses, and cut income taxes for middle class Wisconsinites, including homeowners, renters, veterans and seniors.

Frederica Freyberg:
Top lines of the governor’s proposal. It’s a $119 billion, two-year budget that would increase spending by more than 20%. It calls for $3.15 billion for K-12 education, $856 million for the University of Wisconsin, and $60 million for technical colleges. It also calls for nearly $2 billion in tax relief and for raising taxes on high income earners. Republicans once again consider all of it a nonstarter.

Mark Born:
We confirmed what we suspected last night of — it was kind of the same thing with reckless spending and tax increases. And, you know, a liberal wish list that was going to be in there, but we were a little bit surprised that it’s actually that on steroids. It’s even bigger than last time. The numbers were a little shocking budget when you seem to take a budget that starts a little bit below $100 billion over the two years and push that to almost $119 billion. It’s pretty serious escalating. You’re looking at 1300 new GPR positions, just the growth of government. Again, we knew he would grow government but when you actually see the level of the numbers, it’s kind of stunning.