Under Walker’s 2013-15 budget, debt service will climb even higher, claiming 5.26% of general fund dollars in 2014 and 4.88% in 2015, according to WISTAX. The state’s historical debt level target has been 4%.And by the way, a big gob of that is going to the road-builders.
But here's how the GOP and the right lambasted Jim Doyle when he proposed fresh borrowing:
DOYLE'S DEBT BOMB
In another sign of the fiscal crisis, repaying debt will take a greater share of Wisconsin’s revenue in years to come.
Like a financially strapped consumer facing higher credit card bills, the state would face unprecedented debt payments over the next four years under state budget proposals by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle and lawmakers.
By 2012, yearly payments on state debt will likely consume at least 4.5 percent of the state’s total income from taxes and fees, according to projections by the Legislature’s and Doyle’s budget offices.
That’s 13 percent higher than the 4 percent threshold state officials have long considered to be a reasonable limit.
I got a kick out of the recent TV ads run by the WMC lauding Walker for balancing the state budget, something that's only been accomplished by every Wisconsin Governor in history ... because it's the law. The ads didn't mention the increased borrowing or the shift of hundreds of millions of dollars from education to highway construction, but that will be remedied in the upcoming election.
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