So why hasonly one candidateMilwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a Democratoffered a detailedplan of cuts and efficiencies? And why have the two “fiscalconservatives”Republicans Scott Walker and Mark Neumannoffered nothing butgeneral ideas and one headline-grabbing gimmick?
Walker’scampaign spokeswoman said Walkerwould outline his plans to cut spending throughout the campaign.
His solecost-saving proposal released so far is to ask state employees to pay theirfull employee contribution toward their pension, an idea that Walker says will save $180 million per year.
Whether thevarious unions that represent state employees will accept this change isanother matter.
On hiscampaign website, Walker promises “government spending and reform” measures,including starting the state budget at zero, changing accounting procedures,stripping “policy and pork projects” from the budgethe doesn’t define “pork”and policy proposals are already routinely removed from the budgetnot raidingsegregated funds for other programs and restoring Wisconsin’s reputation forclean and honest government.
So otherthan asking state employees to contribute more toward their pension plans, Walker has no detailedcuts for voters to mull over and inform their decisions.
Likewise, Walker’s challenger inthe Republican primary, former Congressman Mark Neumann, offers few detailsabout what he’d cut.
In an e-mailto the Shepherd, Neumann’s spokesmanChris Lato wrote that Neumann “is not singling out line items and everything ison the table.”
Instead,Neumann is proposing to limit the growth rate of spending to 1% less than therate of inflation, saying that spending less than the revenue generated by thestate will result in reduced taxes for Wisconsinresidents.
“Thespending cut [Neumann] is proposing is an across-the-board effort to implementfiscal discipline throughout state government,” Lato wrote. “He is not cherry-picking certain items in the massive state budget.”
Although Walker and Neumann won’t detail whatprograms they would cut, they have proposed tax cuts that would decrease staterevenue about $1 billion during the next two-year budget cycle. Those taxbreaks are mainly for the wealthy, argues the advocacy group One Wisconsin Now.
For example, Walker and Neumann want to re-open the“Las Vegas loophole” for Wisconsinbusinesses with phony offices in other states ($375 million); cut taxes for thetop 1% of income earners ($287 million); and increase the capital gains taxdeduction ($243 million). Walkeralso wants to eliminate $1 billion in taxes on retirement income.
Barrett: Find Health Care, Energy and CorrectionsSavings
In contrast,Democrat Barrett has offered a more detailed plan for what he calls “putting Madison on a diet,” andhas identified more than $1.1 billion in savings in the state budget.
Some ofthose savings include:
- Pooling state,county, municipal and vocational or school district employees to increase theirpurchasing power for health care. Barrett estimates $339 million will be savedper year.
- Charging BadgerCarePlus enrollees higher monthly premiums for more expensive plans, which willencourage more enrollees to select lower-cost plans. That would save anestimated $200 million annually.
- Reducing the costof incarceration by using community corrections programs and alternativesentencing programs where appropriate. An estimated $58 million would be savedannually.
- Saving $34 millionin state government by eliminating the offices of secretary of state and statetreasurer; reviewing all regulatory programs, commissions and boards every 10years with an eye toward ending them; consolidating and reorganizing stateprograms; and reducing the number of state workers hired to replace retiringemployees.
- Expandingenergy-efficiency measures and setting higher energy-efficiency targets to savean estimated $44 million per year.
- Reducing fraudulentMedicaid billing by at least 20%, which would produce almost $40 million peryear in savings.
