By Mitchell Schmidt
The Wisconsin State Journal
(TNS)
Gov. Tony Evers on Friday vetoed legislation that would have eliminated all state taxes on tips and blocked an effort by Republicans to override his budget action three years ago that provides public school districts additional taxing authority per student for the next four centuries.
Evers also vetoed a Republican-authored bill that would have required Wisconsin’s county sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration agents for the purposes of warrants and detainers.
Among the bills he signed were an increase to the penalty for child trafficking and limiting the use of drones in various circumstances.
Although he proposed eliminating taxes on cash tips in his 2025-27 budget, Evers vetoed the Republicans’ version of the legislation because he said it did not include more sweeping tax relief targeted at middle-class earners through a variety of different tax credits he had proposed.
The bill, Senate Bill 36, would have eliminated state income taxes on up to $25,000 of qualified tips, largely aligning with the federal policy passed last summer as part of a budget reconciliation bill.
“We should not be at the whims of a Republican-controlled Congress that has no problem gutting basic necessities and services like food and access to health care just to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires,” Evers said in a veto message.
Evers also vetoed a separate bill, Assembly Bill 461, that would eliminate state income taxes on overtime, mirroring another aspect of that federal law, for similar reasons.
“On the final Friday of Wisconsin’s Lenten fish fry season—one of the busiest nights of the year—Tony Evers just turned his back on service workers,” Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, said in a post on X. “Republicans fought to eliminate state taxes on tips and overtime so workers keep more of what they earn. Evers said no.”
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© 2026 The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.). Visit www.wisconsinstatejournal.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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