Working for Wisconsin: Governor Scott Walker Speaks with La Crosse Area Business Leaders

Press Release

Today, Governor Scott Walker traveled to La Crosse to deliver remarks at the 7 Rivers Region Breakfast Forum for Business Leaders held at the University of Wisconsin -- La Crosse.

"Wisconsin has a great story to tell," Governor Walker said. "In just a few short years, we turned a huge deficit into a surplus, allowing us to invest in our priorities, and infuse more money into the economy by lowering the tax burden by $2 billion. The state's unemployment rate is the lowest its been since 2008, and we're growing new jobs and adding new businesses. I look forward to continuing our efforts to address the regional issues important to job creators and residents in western Wisconsin, including the tax climate, propane shortage, and drought conditions."

The 7 Rivers Region is named after the seven rivers flowing through western Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota, and northeast Iowa. It includes six Wisconsin counties: Jackson, Juneau, La Crosse, Monroe, Trempealeau, and Vernon. The UW-La Crosse Small Business Development Center coordinated the event.

Working for Wisconsin:

Governor Walker and the Legislature enacted true reforms, turning an inherited deficit of $3.6 billion when he took office, into repeated surpluses; the most recent of which approached $1 billion, just this last year.

Under Governor Walker, taxes have been cut by $2 billion.

After a decade of increases, property taxes for a typical home have gone down three consecutive years under Governor Walker. The property tax bill for a typical home is estimated to be less in 2014 than it was in 2010.

Changes to withholding (in effect as of April 1) mean parents in a typical family of four will see more than $520 more in their paychecks from April 1 to the end of this year.

Reforms and prudent actions under Governor Walker resulted in historic, consecutive deposits in the state's rainy day fund, and increasing it to the largest balance in state history.

After losing over 133,000 jobs in four years prior to Governor Walker taking office, Wisconsin has now gained more than 100,000 jobs.

After losing more than 27,000 businesses, under Governor Walker, Wisconsin has gained nearly 17,000 net new businesses.

After hitting 9.2 percent in 2010, the unemployment rate is down to 5.9 percent in March, the lowest since November of 2008.

95 percent of Wisconsin job creators believe the state is "going in the right direction," up from just 10 percent in 2010 (WMC Survey, Dec. 2013).

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