Economy

One of the most important part of the economy is jobs. For many years, jobs have left Wisconsin and the United States. Some reasons are cheaper labor in other countries and that companies are not required to pay benefits to their employees. This downturn of jobs has plagued many Americans and Wisconsinites with the inability to pay their bills or support their families. This in turn causes foreclosures and some of those families moving out of the state. To bring jobs back, I propose a couple of things. The first is to lower the corporate income tax from 7.9% to 5.9%. This will be an incentive for companies to move back to Wisconsin. To create even more jobs, I will give a further 1% tax break to companies who buy all American-made materials for the products they make and who hire American employees. The more product an American company needs to produce, the more employees they will need to have. This will in turn cause job growth in the United States and Wisconsin.

Another important factor in the economy is taxes. We need to create a fair tax system, as the middle class is carrying the majority of the burden at the moment. A study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison pointed out that the middle class families pay 11.9% of their yearly income into taxes. The top 5% of wealthiest individuals pay only 8.1%. If the tax system was progressive like it is supposed to be, than the more you make, the more you pay. One of two things is happening. Either there are many tax loopholes, or our tax laws need to be changed. I propose to get 5% more out of income taxes on the top 5% of wealthiest indviduals. This will bring in $2 billion in extra revenue. In the last budget cycle, this would have covered almost 80% of the budget deficit.

Finally, the state budget is an important aspect of the state's economy. It is time to get rid of the programs that don't work and reinforce the ones that do. Spending wisely in the areas of education, infrastructure, healthcare, and jobs will lower the amount spent and increase productivity of those areas. An example of a program that works is the BadgerCare program. We can expand it to cover everyone in the state, which would make the national healthcare plan unnecessary here in Wisconsin. We could also go to a statewide universal healthcare program, such as what the state of Massachusetts has. Either way, we need to have a "needs" budget and not a "wants" budget. The people of Wisconsin expect the government to spend less than what we take in, just like the average family budget.

Somewhere in Wisconsin, there is a mother standing in the kitchen. She has children sitting at the dinner table, while she is holding a bottle of medicine which she needs to survive. She knows that she has to pick food for the children, or her life. There are many families in Wisconsin in this type of scenario, and they shouldn't have to be.