MacIver News Minute: Safer at Home Hits State's Finances

The MacIver Report: Wisconsin This Week

The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau is tracking the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the state’s economy and the news isn’t pretty. Tax collections for April 2020 are down $870 million compared to last April and tax collections for the year are down $380 million compared to last. Some of the drop in tax collections can be attributed to the delayed July filing date for taxes but clearly the unnecessary statewide lockdown is having a huge impact on your wallet and the state’s fiscal condition. Imagine that - we shut down the economy, force businesses to close and put hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites out of work to supposedly protect us from a surge that never happened and lo and behold, we taxpayers don’t have money to hand over to our government. Just remember that our government did this to us, pushed our state into this fiscal crisis when they come around next year telling us we have no choice but to pay more taxes to make up for lost lockdown economic activity.