Walker tax cuts for poor to be rejected

MADISON, Wis. — Alternative minimum tax slated for elimination

The Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee plans to eliminate the state’s alternative minimum tax. The tax is typically paid by people who earn between $200,000 and $500,000 a year but also benefits millionaires.

The Joint Finance Committee was to vote Wednesday on eliminating the tax starting in the 2019 tax year. That is a $7 million tax cut for some of the state’s wealthiest taxpayers.

Republicans have long targeted the tax for elimination. It is charged to people who have a large number of deductions and is higher than what they would otherwise pay.

An analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau shows that nearly 50 taxpayers who earned more than $1 million a year would benefit from the tax cut.

Democrats don’t have the votes to stop it.

Walker tax cuts for poor to be rejected

Republicans plan to reject Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to increase a tax credit more than $20 million for the working poor.

Walker had proposed increasing the benefit for about 130,000 that he had cut in 2011. But the GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee on Wednesday planned to vote down his proposal.

Walker had wanted to liberalize Earned Income Tax Credit benefits while also softening penalties under the program for newly married, dual income, couples. He had also called for increasing maximum benefits for low-income workers with one child.

Democrats assailed Walker when he and the Republican-led Legislature voted to cut the EITC in 2011. Walker’s move to increase the benefits had won bipartisan support.

The committee plans to complete work on the budget late Wednesday.

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