Blogs » Latest News

Lots of unanswered questions about future of Wisconsin's economy

By ASSOCIATED PRESS Monday, January 28, 2008 - 5:10 a.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - There are a lot more questions than answers about a pending state budget shortfall that could lead to higher taxes or deep cuts.

The shortfall could be $400 million. Or more.

Deep spending cuts may be needed. But no one's saying yet what they might be.

State jobs might have to be held open. But for now, layoffs aren't being discussed.

And no one dares talk about another option to right the ship -- raising taxes.

Democratic Governor Jim Doyle is promising not to increase taxes to solve the shortfall, and Republican lawmakers have been adamant about taxes not being raised.

But Doyle's administration is being tightlipped about how they will actually do it, saying they need to wait for official revenue estimates that are coming out in mid-February.

reader COMMENTS

Click here to view reader comments

(4)

janesvillecomments
Jan 29, 2008 at 8:15 a.m.
Suggest removal

Perhaps Governor Doyle intends to balance the budget this year by cutting back on his awarding of no-bid contracts?

http://coalition4families.com/doyle/doyl...

http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php...

MrBlack
Jan 28, 2008 at 10:22 p.m.
Suggest removal

I "Forsaw" this by not voting for him, and obviously the problem was already there before this most recent election.

wtp
Jan 28, 2008 at 7:56 a.m.
Suggest removal

I would say you don't much care for Doyle. I know where the state is coming from. I own a small business out of my home and last quarter my sales where down by 2/3 meaning my sales tax I need to send in is down 2/3. This is just one business. I am sure this holds true across the complete state where sales tax will be down considerably. Now Mrblack did you four see this down fall when you voted for Doyle and then turn around and blame him for this short fall.

MrBlack
Jan 28, 2008 at 6:42 a.m.
Suggest removal

Didn't Doyle run on saying that he had balanced the budget, oh yeah that's right a couple weeks later after he was elected it came out that the budget had a serious shortfall. Thanks a lot, everybody that voted for him.

Before you post a comment, consider this:

Note: GazetteXtra.com does not condone or review every comment. Read more in our User Policy Agreement

Keep it clean. Comments that are obscene, vulgar or sexually oriented will be removed. Creative spelling of such terms or implied use of such language is banned, also.
Don't threaten to hurt or kill anyone.
Be nice. No racism, sexism or any other sort of -ism that degrades another person.
Harassing comments. If you are the subject of a harassing comment or personal attack by another user, do not respond in-kind. Hit the "Suggest Removal" button on offensive comments.
Share what you know. Give us your eyewitness accounts, background, observations and history.
Do not libel anyone. Libel is writing something false about someone that damages that person's reputation.
Ask questions. What more do you want to know about the story?
Stay focused. Keep on the story's topic.
Help us get it right. If you spot a factual error or misspelling, email newsroom@gazettextra.com or call 1-800-362-6712.
Remember, this is our site. We set the rules, and we reserve the right to remove any comments that we deem inappropriate.

Post Comment

Commenting requires registration.

News:

Opinion:

Blogs | Columns | Political Cartoons | Polls

Sports:

Multimedia:

Community:

Births | Couples | Obituaries | Death Notices

Blogs

Blog List | Latest Blog Entries

Services:

Reader Rewards | Retail Locations

Copyright ©2007 Bliss Communications Inc. All rights reserved. Use of this material and this site are subject to the GazetteExtra Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Content may not be published, broadcast, re-distributed or re-written.