The Lie: Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce claims Gov. Evers “wanted to tax manufacturing jobs – hurting workers’ paychecks.”
The Truth: The Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit has nothing to do with helping middle class workers — it’s largely a tax giveaway to some of the wealthiest people in our state, which is why Republicans are hell-bent on keeping it in place. Gov. Evers’ plan to reduce the Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit would have lowered income for wealthy manufacturers and taxed capital gains in order to cut income taxes for every tax filer in Wisconsin by more than $200 per person. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/17/19]
The Manufacturing and Agriculture Credit was “giving very significant tax breaks to the very wealthiest individuals.” Nearly 80% of the credit went to claimants who were making more than $1 million, with some millionaires receiving tax cuts of more than $100,000. [Wisconsin Budget Project, 6/28/16]
Gov. Evers’ proposal to limit the credit on manufacturers to $300,000 per year was not a tax on manufacturing jobs, and would have had no direct impact on the agriculture sector or on middle-class manufacturing workers’ paychecks. In fact, passing Evers’ plan to reduce tax giveaways for the wealthy would have resulted in hundreds of dollars of income tax credits for everyone in Wisconsin.
Gov. Evers knows families are struggling with rising costs, that’s why he signed middle class income tax cuts and proposed giving families of four a $600 tax credit. Under Gov. Evers’ leadership, 86% of Wisconsinites have received income tax cuts. The bottom line is: Gov. Evers is trying to cut taxes for the middle class — not raise them.