Gov. Tony Evers

Gov. Tony Evers signed the $87 billion state budget passed by the Republican-led state Legislature Thursday that provides $2 billion in individual income tax relief over the biennium and approximately $1 billion annually going forward.

“In many ways, this budget presents a false choice between the priorities the people this state care about and deserve,” said Gov. Evers in a statement. “But after a long eight years of politicians making decisions for all the wrong reasons, I ran to be the governor of this state and promised I would always put people before politics—that I would always try to do the right thing, that I would work to find common ground, and that I would make decisions based on what’s best for our kids and our state.

“I made a promise when I ran for governor—I promised I would cut taxes for middle-class families by 10 percent. Today, I am keeping my word,” Gov. Evers continued. “This morning, I’m providing more than $2 billion in tax relief and cutting taxes for middle-class families at a time when our economy and families need it most.”

The budget includes $685 million in school spending helping the state to hit the mark of two-thirds funding for schools for the first time in 20 years. The budget will allow the state to receive more than $100 million in federal funds for schools.

Evers said that failing to sign the Republican-authored budget would have cost the state $2.3 billion in federal coronavirus relief funding for K-12 schools.

Evers used his veto pen to rework the budget, a process known as a partial veto.

“The biggest problems with this budget are not the things in it which need to be
removed with the stroke of a pen, but rather the work the Legislature left undone –
whether it is investing in our kids and our schools, criminal justice reform measures,
equity initiatives, or support for our state’s small businesses, there was much more
that we could have accomplished together,” Evers wrote in his veto message. “Therefore, I am once again using my broad constitutional authority to rework this budget in order to bring it closer to the one I assembled for the people of our state.”