Fitzy goes out on a limb

Funny article on Wispolitics this week, which included an interview with Senate Republican leader Scott Fitzgerald. In the article, Fitz mentions there may be an extra $1 billion in revenues for the next 2 years, and that'll help them try to set up another tax giveaway (to the rich and the corporate).

Now Fitz is trying to spin this as proof that the Walker/WisGOP budget has worked and the confidence fairy has allowed for corporate tax cuts to lead to higher revenues. Except there's one problem with that comment- $1 billion in revenue means a slowdown in our state's already-stagnant economy.

Don't believe me, take a look at the numbers from the last biennium, and the 2012 fiscal year. Also remember that the state's revenues were in free fall when the Dems took control of the Legislature in January 2009, before the Obama stimulus and Doyle/Dem budget stabilized things.

General Purpose Revenues, Wisconsin
2009 $12.113 billion
2010 $12.132 billion (+$18.5 million)
2011 $12.912 billion (+$780.0 million)
2012 $13.515 billion (+$603.0 million)

And 2011-2012 was the first year under the Walker/WisGOP budget that Fitz helped get through the Legislature, and revenue growth slowed from 6.4% in FY2011 to 4.7% in FY2012. And if there's an extra $1 billion in revenues between 2013 and 2015, it means yearly revenue growth will slow down well below 4%, lower than the rates of either of the last 2 years.

Then again, Fitz said in January "if you think this budget was scary, wait until the next one." Hmmm, maybe he isn't such a dumbass after all, because he's using this type of code of "billion dollar revenue growth" to show how it really isn't working in Fitzwalkerstan.

You know, kind of like how our budget surplus is a fraud based on accounting tricks and the hoarding of federal funds. You just have to do the homework to figure it out - homework that our media is far too unlikely to do.

( EDIT: Friday's release from the Dept. of Revenue shows October income tax collections went down 4.6% vs. last year, with total FY2013 revs only up 1.3% vs. July-October 2011. Still early, but also worth keeping an eye on).