Sen. Leibham offers amendments to improve CORE bill

In my last Capitol Connection column, I discussed with you the state Senate’s newfound focus on creating jobs and lifting Wisconsin’s economy out of recession. Specifically, majority Democrats recently introduced a 14-point, $15-million job-creation proposal called CORE. As this initiative makes its way through the legislative process, I want to inform you of its progress and my attempts to make it better for Wisconsin’s unemployed and under-employed workers.

The CORE bill has now received a public hearing and earned the approval of the Senate Committee on Economic Development, of which I am a member. Ultimately, I voted with the rest of my colleagues to approve the plan out of committee, but I continue to have strong concerns with the proposal’s ability to actually create the vast number of private sector jobs we need in order to reinvigorate our state economy.

In an effort to improve the CORE bill, I introduced five amendments aimed at getting at the heart of Wisconsin’s economic problems:

1 – End combined reporting – Repeal the combined reporting tax increase that was passed as a part of the budget repair earlier this year. Combined reporting increases the business tax liability for many Wisconsin employers who are headquartered in Wisconsin but do business in other states.

2 – Capital gains tax cut – Completely exempt from capital gains taxation a capital gain that is reinvested in a Wisconsin business or a job creation effort.

3 – New job creation tool – Provide a new job creation tax benefit that would allow a company looking to create or retain at least 15 jobs in Wisconsin to retain all or some of the employees’ state withholding taxes to offset state corporate tax liability.

4 – State tax law update/IRA tax cut – Match Wisconsin’s tax laws with federal Internal Revenue Code for 401Ks and Roth IRAs, amounting to a tax cut for individuals and families saving for retirement.

5 – Repeal auto insurance changes – Terminate the costly auto insurance liability changes that were passed earlier this year (other then the requirement for insurance). These changes have not only increased auto insurance costs for individuals and families, but have also gouged small businesses that have to insure a fleet of vehicles. Small businesses don’t need more government-mandated costs.

While I appreciate the effort put forth by majority Democrats to begin to address our state economic conditions, I believe that their proposal is only a drop in the bucket compared to what our elected leaders need to do to bring about a robust economic recovery. As I visit with the many small and large businesses in the 9th Senate District, the main obstacle identified regarding job growth is the cost of doing business here – including the high tax burden and government regulations, mandates and red tape. The CORE plan does not address these dire problems and my amendments were an attempt to bring about positive changes that will provide the private sector capital necessary to grow our economy.

Unfortunately, my Democratic colleagues on the committee did not allow these changes to be added to their CORE proposal. Nonetheless, I plan to work with my like-minded colleagues to introduce these ideas as amendments once the CORE bill reaches the floor of the Senate, which is likely to happen sometime early next year.

The CORE plan is a reasonable set of initiatives and I plan to support its passage. However, it simply fails to address Wisconsin’s underlying economic problems – our state tax and regulatory codes and their impact on the cost of doing business here. Rest assured that I will continue to push this discussion forward in the weeks and months ahead.

As always, it has been a pleasure communicating with you. Please remember to communicate with me and share your input by calling (888) 295-8750, writing to me at P.O. Box 7882, Madison, WI 53707-7882, or by e-mailing me at Sen.Leibham@legis.wi.gov. You can also log on to the 9th Senate District on-line office at www.leibhamsenate.com.

It is an honor representing the residents of the 9th District in the state Senate.