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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Monday, March 24, 2008

Huebsch: No tax hike needed to fix state budget

By REID MAGNEY / La Crosse Tribune

Last summer and fall, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch found himself in a protracted budget standoff with Gov. Jim Doyle and Senate Democrats.

Another such standoff could be coming as state leaders deal with a projected budget shortfall due to the sagging economy.

“The length and the delay on this depends on just how deep and how dug into the sand they are abo

ut raising taxes,” said Huebsch, R-West Salem.

The problem is that Doyle and Senate Democrats want a budget fix that includes a tax on hospitals, something Huebsch said he won’t agree to.

“We can get through this without raising taxes,” Huebsch said Friday

. “We have to figure out some sort of compromise, how we can get to an answer.”

Huebsch said there are many other options in his plan, Doyle’s plan and even in the Senate Democrats’ plan.

Huebsch said he won’t delay a tax cut and he won’t raise taxes. “Oth

er than that, we can do a lot of things.”

A major component of Huebsch’s plan was to cut government spending by $250 million.

Huebsch said he remains opposed to a hospital tax, even though the hospital association and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce

now support it.

“We do not need to tax hospitals to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates,” Huebsch said.

Huebsch also complained that Doyle’s plan would “skim” $125 million out of the hospital tax and use it in the general fund.

In a statement, state Sen.

Russ Decker, D-Schofield, said, “The hospital assessment is supported by the Wisconsin Hospital Association, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Area Chamber of Commerce and it’s about time the Assembly Republicans got on b

oard. The hospitals of our state are asking for it, but somehow Assembly Republicans think they know better than the people actually running the hospitals.”

Decker called the Senate plan “a good compromise to move our state forward during this challenging

time. Our plan rewards good Wisconsin businesses by lowering the corporate tax rate and we pay for it by closing the Las Vegas Loophole. Closing loopholes that large, profitable businesses use to shove their tax bill onto the backs of small business owners

in Wisconsin means we can lower taxes for those who play by the rules and make the tax code fairer for everyone.”

Huebsch said a compromise is needed soon. “We know we’re spending more than we’re going to bring in the next 18 months. And every day we don

’t change that, we’re spending more,” he said.

Huebsch expects budget negotiations to pick up this week after the Senate acts on its version of the budget fix, which was passed by the Senate Finance Committee last week.

“There is only one thing that is goi

ng to make this a long process, and that is if the Democrats are holding out in the Senate or the governor says we must raise taxes,” Huebsch said. “If that’s their bottom line, this is going to take quite some time.”