By Governor Scott Walker
Governor Scott Walker
Wisconsin is working – and as Governor I have worked to ensure everyone is part of the Wisconsin comeback.
In 2018, more people are working in Wisconsin than ever before. Unemployment statewide has been at or below the historic low of 3 percent for eight straight months and unemployment in our major metro areas continues to drop as well. With 100,000 job openings on our state website, there are more career opportunities than there are people looking for work.
According to the most recently available data, there are over 5,000 minority-owned businesses in Wisconsin employing more than 50,000 people.
Last year, we were proud to announce a partnership between the Wisconsin Economic Development Association and four minority chambers of commerce from around the state investing $1.47 million in minority-owned businesses.
My father taught me the important principles of loving my neighbors and helping those in need. As governor, I have worked to build a Wisconsin economy that provides everyone with opportunity.
Wisconsin is working. And we can’t afford to turn back now.
We don’t want to go back to the days of double-digit tax increases, billion-dollar deficits and record job loss. Instead, we want to keep moving Wisconsin forward.
Eight years ago, we inherited a $3.6 billion budget deficit and turned it into a surplus each year. We used those funds to make record actual-dollar investments into schools – an extra $200 each year for every student in every district across the state.
The budget was so good Superintendent Tony Evers called it a “pro-kid budget.”
We supported and expanded the school choice program, which gives parents the freedom to choose which school best fits their needs. Tony wants to eliminate the program, which will shut down choice schools in Milwaukee and take away choices from parents.
We put more into our technical colleges and froze UW tuition 6 years in a row, making college more affordable for students and families. We want to do it for 4 more years.
And we reduced the tax burden on the hard-working people of Wisconsin by more than $8 billion. In 2018, both property and income taxes are lower than in 2010. That’s good news for working families and senior citizens.
Tony Evers, on the other hand, will raise our taxes. He has advocated for higher property taxes for years. He wants to raise income taxes and he wants to raise the gas tax by as much as a $1 per gallon (that would cost a typical family with two drivers $1,200 more a year).
When healthcare premiums went up 44 percent and Washington failed to act, we put together a bipartisan Healthcare Stability Plan. The latest report shows that premiums will go down more than 4 percent in January – a premium savings of nearly $1,000 – and by 10 percent from where they were headed without our plan.
In contrast, Tony Evers wants to do what our neighbors did. Two years ago, Minnesota Democrat Governor Mark Dayton said the “Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable” after healthcare premiums were going up from 50-67 percent. We don’t want that in Wisconsin. Thankfully our plan lowers premiums, increases choices and improves healthcare.
And we will always cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.
My wife is a type-1 diabetic. My mother is a cancer survivor. And my brother has a heart condition. Like many of you, covering people with pre-existing conditions is personal to me.
Finally, we have a plan to grow our workforce. We want to ensure that every student graduates and that every graduate has a career plan. We want to keep our graduates here and attract new talent to our state from young professionals from across the Midwest, alumni and veterans (we’re the best state for veterans’ benefits).
We will connect students to careers by extending apprenticeships into 7th and 8th grades as well as provide 2/3rd funding for our schools. We will provide up to $5,000 over five years for college graduates who live and work in Wisconsin. To help with the cost of childcare, we will provide a tax credit that helps working families. And we will help our seniors afford to stay in their homes by expanding the Homestead Tax Credit and keeping property taxes down.
To do all of this and more, I ask for your vote. Together, we can keep moving Wisconsin forward
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