“Michigan’s Governor Rick Snyder, who signed right-to-work in 2012, easily won reelection in 2014. Wisconsin Republicans can take heart that union threats against lawmakers who passed similar reforms in other states has proven hollow, as the Mackinac Center’s Vinnie Vernuccio and MacIver Institute president Brett Healy have documented: Union-backed organizations are threatening to spend millions of dollars this year to flip the Wisconsin senate back to Democrat control. That was followed up with a repeal of prevailing wage requirements that drive up the cost of taxpayer-financed municipal construction projects. Last year, Wisconsin became the 25th state to pass Right to Work legislation, freeing workers from being forced to join a union as a condition of employment. Walker and Wisconsin legislators, after getting the budget repair act done, have continued passing significant and much-needed reforms that require a great deal of political courage. Since 2011, AFSCME District Council 40 in Madison has seen its membership decrease by 70% and funding drop by 63%, while AFSCME District Council 48 in Milwaukee has seen membership and receipts fall 69% and 83% respectively. Workers have been exercising this freedom a great deal over the last five years. In addition to the savings and income tax relief that Act 10 has permitted, it has also given workers a choice as to whether to join and financially support a union. To commemorate the tremendous savings that Act 10 has generated for Wisconsin taxpayers, the MacIver Institute is celebrating this month as Wisconsin Taxpayer Appreciation Month. What really stands out in the MacIver Institute report is how Act 10 brought savings to government entities of all sizes, from small towns to large state departments, with nearly 500 units of government each achieving over $1 million in savings. Thankfully, however, Walker and the legislature have used the Act 10 savings to provide more than $2 billion in direct tax relief for Wisconsinites.” The savings could fund over 68,000 four-year degrees at UW-Madison, or install 42 separate Milwaukee-style streetcar systems throughout the entire state. The DOT could build 2,912 more roundabouts. $5.24 billion in savings works out to $910 in savings for every man, woman and child in Wisconsin, or $2,291 for every household in Wisconsin. The MacIver Institute illustrates what these savings mean for taxpayers:
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