Dear Friends,

I hope you are well. I'm hopeful the healing is beginning in Kenosha after several nights of violence. While we wait for the results of the independent investigations, I'm grateful for the additional help from the White House.

 

President Trump visited Kenosha on Tuesday and promised an additional $1 million to help fund law enforcement, $4 million to support small businesses affected by the riots, and $42 million statewide for law enforcement, additional prosecutors, and to provide services to victims of crime. This funding will go a long way in rebuilding parts of Kenosha devastated by multiple nights of rioting.

 

If you have lost wages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be eligible for $300 per week from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This week, FEMA approved Wisconsin residents for grants from the Lost Wages Assistance program. Click here to find out more information including if you are eligible for the benefit.

In this week's E-Update, our state is in good economic shape despite the shutdown, low taxes are a big reason why, and updated COVID-19 information. Keep reading for more.

As always, if you have any concerns or ideas on how to improve our great state, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone at 608-266-5830 or by email at Sen.Darling@legis.wisconsin.gov.

On, Wisconsin!

While the economic downturn from the COVID-19 shutdown has been tough on everyone, there are signs our state continues to rebound.

 

This week, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau released preliminary general fund tax collections for fiscal year 2019-20. Overall, collections are down less than 1% or by $112.6 million compared to previous estimates.

 

Because we were careful with the money taxpayers provided, our state finances are down, but not out. We will be adding to our already record-high Rainy Day fund. Those funds will help get us through this crisis without raising taxes on working-families in our state.

The collections are high enough that we will be able to add $105.9 million to the Rainy Day Fund. That deposit will raise the fund to $761.8 million. Before Republicans took over from Democrats, that fund was virtually zero. I'm proud of the efforts we've made to invest in the Rainy Day Fund when our economy was stronger.

There are many good reasons why Wisconsin is in better shape than other states as we recover from the economic shutdown from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

We didn't get here by accident. I have made sure we are careful with the money you provide the state. Not long ago, Wisconsin was in the top 10 highest taxed states in the nation. Now we are out of the top ten and headed even lower. According to the Wisconsin Policy Forum, our tax burden is at its lowest point in 50 years. Thanks to our reforms, taxpayers have saved $13 billion since 2011.

 

Those reforms led to a significant budget surplus in 2019. I worked on a middle-class tax cut just like Governor Evers promised when he ran for governor. Unfortunately, he vetoed your tax cut, but we didn't give up.

 

The budget we passed and Governor Evers signed contains more than $457 million in tax relief aimed at middle-class families. We also stopped Governor Evers' $1 billion in tax hikes before they could hurt our economy. Without those reforms, our outlook might not be so rosy.

 

We still don't know the full effect of the economic shutdown. We will get a better picture in the months to come. However, since we were careful with your money, I believe we will be in pretty good shape to face those challenges without raising your taxes..

The table above contains data reported on September 2, 2020 from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services on coronavirus cases in our area.

According to data from the Center for Disease Control, emergency room visits for COVID-19 symptoms are below two percent.

Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker