(The Center Square) – Republican governor candidate Tom Tiffany brings it up nearly every time he has the chance, ending the 400-year property tax increase added into law by current Gov. Tony Evers.
But voters will have the first chance to end the process that led to Evers’ partial veto with a ballot referendum heading into the Nov. 3 election.
The statewide referendum will block a governor from using a partial veto to “create or increase or authorize the creation or increase of any tax or fee.”
Evers used the current veto power to erase numbers and a hyphen to change the year “2024-25” to “2425” in a school appropriation in the budget bill.
That meant a $325 per student per year funding increase for the next 400 years was allowed and later upheld in a 4-3 ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
If the referendum passes, state lawmakers would then have to pass new legislation to end the tax increase and have it signed by the new governor.
“We’re going to end the 400-year property tax increase,” Tiffany said at last week’s debate with Democrat David Crowley. “Back in December, largest increase in property taxes in 30 years. We’re taxing people out of their homes. Young people are not able to afford to be able to buy a new home.”
Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, said in testimony before the proposal passed the Legislature that Evers’ partial veto upended the balance of power in the state.
“This was a deeply egregious move on the governor's part, and one that this proposed constitutional amendment aims to stop from ever happening again,” Kapenga testified.