Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 78. Sunrise is 5:17 AM and sunset 8:37 PM for 15h 19m 37s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 42.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1950, the Korean War begins when North Korea invades South Korea.
Baylor Spears reports JFC completes work with cuts to income taxes and UW budget, increases in state employee pay:
The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) voted to cut state income taxes by $3.5 billion and reduce the University of Wisconsin system budget while raising pay for state employees as lawmakers wrapped up their work on the 2023-25 state budget Thursday.
The committee voted 12-4 along party lines to recommend the budget for approval by the Legislature. It will likely go to the full Legislature for a vote next week. If passed, the budget would be sent to Gov. Tony Evers, who could use his line-item veto power to make changes before signing it into law.
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While Republican lawmakers tagged the plan as a “middle class” tax cut, Wisconsin’s highest earners will receive the biggest cut. The tax rate for Wisconsin’s top bracket, which includes single filers making over $304,170 and joint filers making over $405,550, would fall to 6.5% from 7.65%, a 1.15-percentage-point drop.
Wisconsin’s two middle brackets would be compressed to one that encompasses earners whose incomes range from $13,810 and $304,170 for single filers and $18,420 to $405,550 for joint filers, all of whom would have a 4.4% tax rate.
Currently, single filers with incomes from $13,810 to $27,630 and joint filers from $18,420 to $36,840 have a 4.65% rate. Single filers with incomes from $27,630 to $304,170, and joint filers from $36,840 to $405,550 have a 5.3% rate.
The tax rate for the lowest tax bracket — which includes single filers making up to $13,810 and joint filers making up to $18,420 — would fall to 3.50% from 3.54%.
There was always going to be a tax cut in this plan, and the tax cut was always going to be the centerpiece of the budget. The $3.5 billion tax cut is more than an order of magnitude higher than the shared revenue increases passed earlier this month (shared revenue increases amounted to “an additional $274.9 million to counties and municipalities.” The long delay in a shared revenue agreement was notable not because the number was large but rather because the number was relatively small.
The UW System sees a funding cut in this budget:
JFC Republicans voted to cut $32 million and 188 full-time positions from the UW system budget with the stated purpose of eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion efforts throughout the system.
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A UW faculty union leader, however, charged on Twitter Thursday that Republican complaints about DEI were a smoke screen.
“This is not an effort to curb DEI. This is an effort to distract from the fact that the legislature is giving the state university system no new funding—not even an inflationary increase—when we have the largest surplus in state history,” tweeted Nick Fleisher, a UW-Milwaukee linguistics professor and president of the American Association of University Professors Wisconsin Conference.
There was always going to be a UW System budget cut. The System, so to speak, is not a WISGOP constituency:
The education gap among white voters grew notably wider in 2020. Democrats went from winning 53% of the white college vote in 2012 to 57% in 2016 to 61% in 2020. By contrast, their share of the non-college white vote declined markedly from 49% in 2012 to 41% in 2016 to 40% in 2020.
Horse rescued from swimming pool by tractor after getting spooked and jumping in:
A horse was rescued after becoming spooked and jumping into a Florida swimming pool. Pasco County Fire and Rescue firefighters were called to the scene on the evening of Tuesday 20 June, where they found the stuck animal. Footage shows the moment the horse was lifted from the water after firefighters secured a hoisting harness to it. It had become spooked by another horse before jumping into the pool, authorities said.
“We are happy to report that the horse is in good condition! Thank you to everyone who responded and worked vigilantly to save a life,” Pasco County Fire Rescue wrote, sharing the video on social media.