Wisconsin should not postpone a requirement to increase the minimum balance in the state’s general fund.

A significant portion of the federal funding intended for that assistance is being siphoned off for use elsewhere in the budget, to the detriment of the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program and the child care subsidies for low-income working families.

In Wisconsin, revenue from the income tax supports safe communities, well-maintained bridges and roads, and solid public schools. Here are some facts you may not know about the individual income tax in Wisconsin.

Working families and the elderly are paying higher property taxes as the Legislature allows targeted property tax relief to continually shrink. A straightforward solution would be to regularly adjust the Homestead Credit for inflation, which is the routine practice for almost all of the state tax code.

The budget passed by the U.S. House of Representatives includes deep cuts in federal support for investments important for Wisconsin’s future.

State aid to local governments is for the large part frozen in the proposed 2013-15 budget, with very modest increases proposed for a few forms of spending on local aid. This freeze comes after several years of steady decreases in state spending for local assistance.

The Governor’s Budget proposed significant reductions in the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program, with a cut of close to $16 million per year compared to the 2012-13 appropriation, a total reduction of $31 million over the biennium.

Governor Walker plans to partially close the current gap in BadgerCare by extending eligibility to all adults below the poverty level who don’t have children, while cutting in half the current income eligibility ceiling for parents and caretakers.

Wisconsin is expected to begin the 2013-15 budget period with a solid General Fund surplus, estimated to be about $420 million, but the Governor’s budget proposals would leave the state with a potential deficit of more than $600 million in the following biennium.