State government will see a $753 million jump in state tax revenue over the next few years, according to a new estimate released Wednesday by the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office.
Most of the increase, which is being driven by higher income and corporate tax collections, would be front-loaded, leaving state government with about $1 billion in its general fund on June 30, the day the current budget ends.
The higher numbers come as Republicans on the Legislature’s budget committee are starting to vote piece by piece on Evers’ proposed budget for the next two years.
Shortly after the new estimate was released, Evers’ office announced the governor would make a $56 million payment to retire additional state debt. Evers also called on the Legislature to approve an additional $15 million for worker training as well as $18 million more for the Wisconsin Technical College System.
Republican leaders were less specific about what they want to do with the extra revenue, although Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, both floated the idea of cutting taxes.
While lawmakers and governors can add more money to the state’s rainy day fund if they choose to, deposits to the fund are mostly on auto-pilot.
According to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, if these estimates hold, it would mean a $291 million deposit in the rainy day fund, bringing its total balance to about $617 million.