Saturday, July 12, 2025
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Saturday, July 12, 2025

Milwaukee Press Club 'Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism' 2020 & 2021 Award Winners

Speaker: New Brewers’ Ballpark Funding Plan Centers on Players’ Taxes

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The latest plan for Milwaukee’s American Family Field would use tax money to keep the stadium up to date, but those taxes wouldn’t come from the people of Wisconsin.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, on Wednesday, told News Talk 1130 WISN’s Jay Weber they are looking at a plan to tax ballplayers to pay for the ballpark.

“Remember, if a player comes one-time to Wisconsin, they file a Wisconsin income tax return. So, every single player who visits pays Wisconsin income taxes.” Vos explained. “If the Brewers leave, every dollar of that income tax would never be here.”

Vos said Republican lawmakers at the Wisconsin Capitol are considering a plan that would find the $400 million that American Family Field needs for maintenance and repairs from those income tax dollars.

“We’re focusing on using a sizable chunk of the income taxes that players pay, nothing that you and I pay, and using that to help keep the team here,” Vos added.

He hopes to release the details after Labor Day.

Vos also said Gov. Tony Evers’ plan to cut the Stadium District a one-time check is dead. But Vos said the idea of having Milwaukee and Milwaukee County pay something for the stadium is not.

“There has to be a local contingency,” Vos said. “In the Fiserv Forum deal it was basically one-third/one-third/one-third. In the Stadium District up in Green Bay it was a local effort, the state had some money in it but very little. Here we are where the state is looking to fund something like 50%, 60%, 70% using the players’ salaries. The balance should be paid for by the people who are going to most directly benefit, and that’s the city and county of Milwaukee.”

MIlwaukee County’s executive and Milwaukee’s mayor have both in the past said they want to keep the Brewers in town and are open to helping pay for American Family Field.

Milwaukee County supervisors and Milwaukee aldermen, however, have vowed to not spend a “dime” on the ballpark.

Vos isn’t saying how he intends to have Milwaukee and Milwaukee County chip-in, though he is ruling out “taxing” some of the city and county’s new sales tax money.

“[The sales tax] freed-up hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of the next 20 or 30 years which we can choose to invest in local economic activity, like the Brewers,” Vos said. “To say ‘You and I realize that if the Brewers leave, that sales tax goes down.’”

Brewers’ owner Mark Anatanassio said last week he thinks talks about a ballpark funding deal are in “the sixth inning,” and said he’s optimistic that a deal is in the works.

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2026 GOP Candidate Josh Schoemann Challenges Evers’ Budget Approach

(The Center Square) – Josh Schoemann, the only Republican currently in the race for governor next year, is criticizing Gov. Tony Evers’ approach to the next state budget by comparing it to his plans in Washington County.

“In Washington County our budget cycle starts right now, and it’s not due until November. We will propose our budget goals to the County Board in the next couple of months. We will share ‘This is what we’re thinking.’ It gives them months of time to think those through, give us feedback, and [have] that kind of dialogue,” Schoemann explained in an interview on News Talk 1130 WISN.

Schoemann said that is far better than the approach Evers is taking again this year.

“That’s not how government is supposed to work,” Schoemann said. “It’s not the vision of the governor. It’s not the vision of any one person.”

Evers and the Republican legislative leaders who will write the budget have been involved in on-again, off-again budget talks this month. On Thursday, the governor’s office said those talks were off once again because of gridlock in the Senate.

“Ultimately, the Senate needs to decide whether they were elected to govern and get things done or not,” Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in a post on X.

Schoemann’s criticism of Evers is nothing new. He has long been a critic of the governor and has turned that criticism up since launching his campaign for governor.

But the recent criticism was also aimed at other Republicans who may jump into the 20206 governor’s race later this year.

“Nobody else in this race on the Republican side, being rumored to this point, has the executive leadership of skills and history to be able to show ‘This is how I’ve done it before, and here’s how we’ll do it Madison,’” Schoemann said. “The results in Washington County speak for themselves.”

Northwoods Congressman Tom Tiffany is also rumored to be looking to get into the Republican race. Before he went to Congress, Tiffany was a Republican lawmaker in Madison.

Businessman and veteran Bill Berrien is also on the short list of likely GOP candidates for 2026.

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Wisconsin Budget Negotiations Reach Impasse Between Evers, Legislature

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin budget negotiations have reached an impasse with both sides pointing fingers at the other in Wednesday afternoon statements.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said Republican Legislative leaders backed out of negotiations after he agreed to “an income tax cut targeting Wisconsin’s middle-class and working families and eliminating income taxes for certain retirees.” He said Republican leaders would not agree to “meaningful increased investments in child care, K-12 schools, and the University of Wisconsin System.”

Republican Assembly leaders said the two sides were "far apart. Senate leaders say Evers’ desires “extend beyond what taxpayers can afford.”

“The Joint Committee on Finance will continue using our long-established practices of crafting a state budget that contains meaningful tax relief and responsible spending levels with the goal of finishing on time,” said a statement from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Assembly Finance Co-Chairman Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam.

Evers said that there were meetings between the sides every day this week before the impasse.

“I told Republicans I’d support their half of the deal and their top tax priorities – even though they’re very similar to bills I previously vetoed – because I believe that’s how compromise is supposed to work, and I was ready to make that concession in order to get important things done for Wisconsin’s kids,” Evers said.

Senate Republican leadership said that good faith negotiations have occurred since April on a budget compromise.

“Both sides of these negotiations worked to find compromise and do what is best for the state of Wisconsin,” said a statement from Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, and Senate Joint Finance Co-Chairman Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green.

In early May, the Joint Committee on Finance took 612 items out of Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal, including Medicaid expansion in the state, department creations and tax exemptions.

Born previously estimated that Evers’ budget proposal would lead to $3 billion in tax increases over the two-year span.

Wisconsin Policy Forum estimated that the proposal would spend down more than $4 billion of the state’s expected $4.3 billion surplus if it is enacted.