This editorial in the Janesville Gazette highlights some of the concerns with the budget repair bill that Governor Doyle signed into law in February. Its passage and signature occurred in 48 hours, leaving little time for legislative debate. Public hearings were not held on this massive piece of legislative that imposes major tax increases on families and employers.

We are at a perilous time in our state, as workers continue to lose jobs each week and unemployment is at its highest in decades. The new taxes Doyle included in his budget repair bill will cost Wisconsin employers hundreds of millions of dollars each year and will put Wisconsin jobs in jeopardy. New job-killing taxes will affect employers such as Harley-Davidson, Ashley Furniture, Pepsi-Frito Lay, Proctor & Gamble and other multistate businesses that employ thousands of Wisconsin workers. Time will tell what the increased costs will mean for the employment situation of their workers, but we know that the new taxes will serve as a disincentive for employers to locate or expand their businesses in our state.

The best way to get our economy moving is to make it easier, not harder, to do business in Wisconsin. We must provide incentives to encourage job growth and expansion in the private sector, rather than smother them with additional taxes and regulations that kill jobs.