Robert Kraig, Executive dDrector of Citizen Action of Wisconsin and Ken Taylor , Executive Director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families have proposed an alternative to Governor Walker's "budget".
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/122754538.html<snip>
The governor claims he has no choice but to raise taxes on low-income workers while slashing education, health care, community supports for seniors and people with disabilities, mass transit and other core investments that promote economic opportunity and freedom for all Wisconsinites to live independent and fulfilling lives.
To test the governor's assertion that these are necessary choices, we convened some of the top budget experts in the state to examine whether it is possible to balance the state budget without making crippling cuts.
The result is a new proposal we call the Wisconsin Values Budget, which is endorsed by 34 nonprofit organizations from across the state. This budget starts with the difficult health care and pension concessions already made by Wisconsin's public employees, which we estimate to be worth about $1 billion.
The fundamental difference between Walker's budget and the Wisconsin Values Budget is that we also ask the wealthy and large corporations to make a similar shared sacrifice. By raising the income tax rate for the wealthiest Wisconsinites, reinstating the estate tax for the wealthy and bringing the share of the state budget paid by large corporations up to the national average, we raise an additional $1 billion. We raise additional revenue with improved collection from delinquent taxpayers.
<end snip>
The Wisconsin Values Budget and the full list or organizational sponsors are available at www.citizenactionwi.org