MADISON (WKOW) — Democratic candidate for Governor Tony Evers and incumbent Scott Walker are both out with new agendas for the state. Evers proposed a handful of reforms like automatic voter registration for 18-year-olds, while Walker announced a new tax credit for seniors.
Walker is calling for increasing the maximum property tax credit for low-income seniors by 50 percent. The plan would make it available to those over 62, who make more than $37,000 a year. The maximum credit is $1,752.
The state schools superintendent unveiled a “government for us” agenda including automatic voter registration, creating a nonpartisan redistricting commission and hiring an inspector general to watch over state government.
“The hardworking people of Wisconsin deserve a governor and a state government that works hard for them,” said Evers. “Unfortunately, for the past eight years, Scott Walker and Republicans have used our state government as a way to pay back their political supporters and special interests, waste taxpayer dollars on 24-mile plane rides, and undermine trust and accountability in government.”
Walker said his opponent’s proposals would take the state backward, weighing in on Twitter Monday mocking his ideas.
Evers is open to increasing some taxes while making cuts elsewhere in part of a broad agenda to lower the tax burden on working families. If elected, he also wants to create a new Office of the Inspector General but did not provide where or how much staffing would be needed to start it up.
He’s also been vocal on the campaign trail about replacing the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. An agency he says underdelivered on job growth.
Walker’s campaign called Evers proposals a “sham plan” that would get rid of the state’s jobs agency.
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