|
|
|
State News Release |
Home | Press | State Press |
| Wisconsin Greens Denounce Doyle Budget as Salt in the Wounds of Students, Working Families. |
|
Wisconsin Green Party February 8, 2005 Contacts: MADISON -- Wisconsin Green Party officials tonight denounced Governor Jim Doyle's budget proposal as pouring more salt in the wounds of university students, public servants, and working families. Greens specifically criticized the Governor for proposing further cuts in state support for the University of Wisconsin System, layoffs of over 1800 public servants, major cuts in funding for the environment, health, and human services, and more corporatization of basic state services. To close the budget gap, the Wisconsin Green Party supports a return to Wisconsin's tradition of fair, progressive taxation. "A UW education is no longer affordable for most students, and it's partially Jim Doyle's fault," said Jim Weill, a student at UW-Milwaukee. "He raised tuition nearly 40% in the last budget, and now he's cutting education funding again." Governor Doyle's claims, published in this morning's newspapers, that he is proposing the restoration of lost funding to the UW System is dishonest spin, Green Party officials say. Doyle's proposed 6.5% tuition hike next year, combined with a further hike of the following year, would result in an overall tuition hike of over 14%. Although the governor's budget will include a $2000 increase in the tax deduction for UW System tuition from $3,000 to $5,000, tuition is less affordable overall for students. According to UW System Administration, the percentage of UW System students coming from the poorest 2/5ths of Wisconsin families dropped between 1992 and 2002 from 35% to 29%, and from 25% to 18% at the UW-Madison; after the last budget's 37% tuition hike, these percentages are certain to have worsened. The Wisconsin Green Party supports student demands for tuition cuts and for full funding for financial aid, instructional, diversity programs, extension, and other essential university and tech college system programs. Specifically, Greens support student demands for an immediate reduction of tuition to pre-2003 levels, before Doyle's last tuition hike. "Look, it's really simple," said Ginny Bormann, Treasurer of the WGP and a member of AFSCME Local 2412 employed at Wisconsin Center for Education Research. "Doyle promised Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce that he would cut corporate taxes, increase corporate welfare, and eliminate 10,000 public workers. He is keeping that promise, and working Wisconsinites will suffer the consequences in services cuts and less environmental protection." According to the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, Wisconsin ranks 49th nationally in terms of corporate taxes paid as a share of state and local taxes. Additionally, middle class working Wisconsinites pay almost twice as much of their income in taxes as compared to the wealthiest individuals in this state. The Wisconsin Green Party supports a 180 degree shift in the tax burden off of the shoulders of working people, and back to where it rested at the end of Wisconsin's progressive era in the 1940s - on those most able to pay, the rich. Green Party officials looked for silver linings in Governor Doyle's budget proposal, and noted that the governor had submitted a budget that includes long over-due funding for domestic partners health insurance for state workers. Yet Greens warned that after two years of slash-and-burn budgeting, Doyle's proposed '06-'07 budget would have an overall negative impact on working Wisconsinites. The Wisconsin Green Party is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States, and stands on the four pillars of Social & Economic Justice, Grassroots Democracy, Nonviolence, and Ecological Wisdom. For more information, visit http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org . The Green Party of the United States' website is http://www.gp.org
. |
|
State News Release |
Home | Press | State Press |
