By Associated Press - Tuesday, February 5, 2019

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Latest on Republican income tax cut plan (all times local):

1:55 p.m.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says if Gov. Tony Evers’ tax cut plan raises taxes on anyone to reduce taxes on others it’s a non-starter with Republicans.

Vos made the remarks to reporters Tuesday afternoon before he was set to testify at a joint legislative hearing on Republicans’ own tax cut plan.

Evers wants to fund an $415 million annual income tax cut for the middle class by rolling back a manufacturing tax credit program Republicans support. The GOP would fund $340 million in annual income tax cuts for the middle class by pulling dollars out of the state’s budget surplus.

Vos says there’s no need to raise taxes on anyone given the surplus. He says he hasn’t read the details of Evers’ plan but he knows but if it’s based on raising taxes on anyone it’s a non-starter.

The Assembly Ways and Means Committee is set to vote on the Republican plan on Wednesday. The committee’s chairman, Rep. John Macco, told reporters he has read Evers’ plan and he found it “bizarrely complicated.”

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1:35 p.m.

Gov. Tony Evers’ tax cut plan would be partially paid for by rolling back a manufacturing tax credit program Republicans support.

But no funding source is identified for about $370 million of the plan over two years. Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday that can be worked out as the income tax cut is considered along with other spending items in the budget.

Republicans are moving quickly on their proposal that would tap a budget surplus to cut income taxes by about $340 million a year. The Evers plan would cut income taxes about $415 million a year.

The average savings under the Republican plan is $170 per filer. Evers’ office says the average under his is about $225.

Republicans were holding a hearing on their proposal Tuesday, with a committee vote Wednesday.

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1 p.m.

Gov. Tony Evers and Democrats have unveiled a competing middle class income tax cut plan targeting Wisconsin families that earn less than $125,000.

The proposal unveiled Tuesday comes as Republicans are moving quickly to approve their own tax cut plan .

The biggest difference is in how the two measures would be paid for. Evers wants to nearly eliminate a manufacturing and agriculture tax credit program to help pay for his. Republicans don’t want to do that. Instead, they are calling for tapping the state’s reserves.

Evers said Tuesday he can’t support that approach.

His plan would cut taxes about $415 million a year. The Republican plan would cut taxes about $340 million a year.

The Evers plan would create a 10 percent refundable tax credit for single filers earning below $80,000 a year and married-joint filers making less than $125,000.

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9:55 a.m.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers says he won’t sign a Republican middle class tax cut plan that relies on tapping reserves to pay for it.

Evers restated his opposition to the plan Tuesday just ahead of a public hearing on the Republican proposal.

Evers says the $340 million needed to pay for the income tax cut is needed in other areas. He didn’t specify what, but he plans to call for increasing aid to public schools by 10 percent, at a cost of $1.4 billion.

Evers says he can’t support the Republican plan because it doesn’t have a source of funding for the future.

Evers wants to pay for his proposed 10 percent middle class tax cut by capping credits under a manufacturing and agriculture tax credit program. Republicans oppose that.

Evers says his approach is “far superior.”

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9:18 a.m.

The public will get a chance to sound off on Wisconsin Republicans’ income tax cut plan during a hearing at the state Capitol.

The Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee and the Senate’s Agriculture, Revenue and Financial Institutions Committee are set to hold a joint public hearing on the bill Tuesday afternoon.

The proposal calls for increasing the state income tax maximum deduction by 20.6 percent for single people making less than $127,000 and for joint filers making less than $155,000. The bill is estimated to cost the state $495.6 million over the 2019-21 biennium. Republicans want to fill that hole with money from the state’s surplus.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has proposed cutting income taxes as well but wants to cover it by capping tax breaks for manufacturers and farmers.

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