2-23-18 wi assembly oks child tax credit, sales tax holiday

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican lawmakers moved closer Thursday to enacting Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to give parents a tax credit and create a sales tax holiday, moving the package through the Assembly and on to the Senate. The legislation’s fate in that house is uncertain.  Walker’s plan calls for giving all parents a $100 per-child tax credit, funded through the state’s budget surplus. It also would repeal sales taxes on items costing less than $100 over the first weekend in August. The legislation would cost the state about $170 million in all.  Democrats blasted it as an election year gimmick — the sales tax holiday would fall just days before the August primary — but Assembly Republicans have embraced the plan. The chamber passed it 61-35 on Thursday.  “This money is taxpayers’ money and it should go back to them,” Republican Rep. Shannon Zimmerman said.  The sales tax holiday lacks support in the Senate, putting the entire plan in jeopardy.