Wisconsin Senate passes Gov. Scott Walker's $100-per-child tax rebate, sales tax holiday
MADISON - The Wisconsin Senate voted Tuesday to give Wisconsin residents a one-weekend sales tax holiday in addition to a one-time $100-per-child tax rebate, giving Gov. Scott Walker a $133 million package that he had been counting on for his re-election campaign.
But the Senate likely won't take up another measure championed by Walker and the state Assembly — one that would provide Foxconn-style subsidies to save two Kimberly-Clark Corp. paper plants. And changes to the sales tax holiday bill mean that proposal will have to return to the state Assembly for a second vote before it can reach Walker's desk.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) had dismissed the sales tax holiday as a gimmick that couldn't pass his house. But he said that Republicans in his house had agreed to a scaled-back version of it to get the tax package to Walker for his signature.
"Did I just blow your mind?" Fitzgerald joked to reporters after saying he would accept the sales tax holiday.
The measure, Senate Bill 798, passed 17-15 with Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) voting with most Republicans in favor of the measure and GOP Sens. Rob Cowles of Allouez and Luther Olsen of Ripon voting with all other Democrats against it.
The tax cut bill had been threatened by a clash between Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) that has held up several high-profile bills in recent weeks. But Vos confirmed Tuesday that he supports the proposal as passed by the Senate.
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Democrats dismissed the bill as a scheme to help Walker and GOP candidates by delivering tax cuts to voters just months ahead of the 2018 elections. Sen. Kathleen Vinehout of Alma, one of more than a dozen Democrats running for governor, called unsuccessfully for delaying the tax rebate until after the November election.
Right now, Vinehout said, it looked like voters were being "bribed with a $100 payment."
But in a statement, Walker praised the vote as a win for taxpayers.
"These aren’t Republican or Democrat issues. These are Wisconsin issues," he said.
The version of the tax cut approved 61-35 last month by the Assembly would provide $122 million for the $100-per-child sales tax rebate. The Senate passed that part of the legislation, which would deliver the rebate checks to voters in or around July.
Any child younger than 18 as of Dec. 31, 2017, would qualify for the tax credit this year — about 671,000 families with 1.22 million children are expected to meet the definition.
The Assembly bill also included a one-time $50 million sales tax holiday for the first weekend in August that would cover all goods under $100.
The Senate version would reduce the sales tax holiday to about $11 million, adopting a version of the holiday that Walker unsuccessfully proposed in last year's budget. Under this scaled back holiday, only certain items would qualify for the sales tax break, such as some electronics, clothing and some other back-to-school supplies.
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Meanwhile, Fitzgerald said senators wouldn't vote Tuesday on Assembly Bill 963, which aims to head off a decision by Kimberly-Clark Corp. to shut down plants in Neenah and Fox Crossing and eliminate 600 jobs.
The Assembly last month voted, 56-37, in favor of the bill, which would provide subsidies at the once unprecedented levels offered to Foxconn Technology Group of Taiwan for its proposed flat-screen plant in Racine County.
Fitzgerald said talks between the state and company aren't far enough along to know what kind of incentives Kimberly-Clark wants if any.
"We'd love to act right now, but until they take a deal or until they give us the high sign ... we don't know," the Senate leader said.
Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson said that wasn't good enough. Republicans have failed to help other troubled paper plants and seem about to do so again, he said.
"The Kimberly-Clark workers ... deserve an explanation; more important, they deserve action and results," said Nelson, a Democrat.
RELATED:How problem landlords in Milwaukee game the system
The Senate also sent to Walker on voice votes two bills aimed at cracking down on landlords who abuse auctions for foreclosed homes.
Assembly Bill 690 is aimed at broadening the customer base at sheriff's sales for foreclosed homes by allowing counties to conduct the sales via the Internet. Assembly Bill 691 bans problem landlords who owe back taxes or court-ordered building code fines from participating in sheriff's sales.
In an ongoing investigation, the Journal Sentinel has pointed out numerous ways that unscrupulous landlords and slumlords have gamed the system, including hiding their identities in scores of limited liability companies or failing to pay taxes and fines.
Senate Republicans approved on a party-line 18-14 vote Assembly Bill 748, which would generally bar local governments from setting tougher employment standards than those in state law. In doing so, GOP senators removed an exemption in the bill for projects related to the Foxconn plant.
Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave, who has ties to Republicans, had sought to stop the bill. Delagrave said that, even with an exemption for Foxconn, the proposal could still hurt efforts to hire local people for jobs generated by the plant.
The bill now returns to the Assembly so lawmakers there can consider the Senate changes.
RELATED:Wisconsin would spend $7 million to attract out-of-state workers for companies like Foxconn
Assembly Bill 811, also scheduled for a Senate vote Tuesday, would spend nearly $7 million to lure out-of-state workers to businesses in Wisconsin such as Foxconn. The proposal passed the Assembly last month on a bipartisan 67-28 vote, so Senate passage would send it to Walker for his signature.