Free Exchange Badger Institute

On the surface, Milwaukee’s latest year-over-year crime statistics show promise for the safety of the state’s largest city. Some city officials have even touted the aggregate numbers as cause for optimism.

But the numbers tell a different story when examined in context: Milwaukee is in trouble.

Researcher Sean Kennedy joins Patrick McIlheran to interpret the data and chart a path forward for Milwaukee to move from a culture of criminal coddling to one of certain justice.

Kennedy’s latest for the Badger Institute, “Latest crime figures show a Milwaukee in trouble”: https://www.badgerinstitute.org/latest-crime-figures-show-a-milwaukee-in-trouble/

A new report by Badger Institute Managing Editor Mark Lisheron reveals that calls to police from MPS high schools dramatically increased – again. Lisheron joins Badger Institute Vice President Michael Jahr to discuss the troubling numbers – and the encouraging news that the Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson has signaled support for putting police back in schools.

The report: https://www.badgerinstitute.org/calls-to-police-from-mps-high-schools-up-dramatically-again/

Few people give thought to the impact of occupational licensing – until it affects them directly. But licensing requirements can fence people out of occupations, drive up costs to consumers, limit mobility, create unnecessary bureaucracy and more.

In this episode of Free Exchange, State Sen. Andre Jacque and State Rep. Shae Sortwell, both chairmen of their chamber’s licensing committees, discuss how licensing affects Wisconsinites and policy reforms that can reduce or eliminate some of the resulting burdens.

Did you know that Wisconsin has a biennium budget? Or that a powerful joint committee makes most of the budget decisions in the Legislature? Or how a projected $7.1B budget surplus might factor in?

Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) and Rep. Evan Goyke (D-Milwaukee), both members of the Joint Finance Committee, join Badger Institute VP Michael Jahr for a Schoolhouse Rock look at how a budget becomes law in Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin, the vast majority of businesses are established as pass-throughs — meaning their owners pay the individual income tax rate, not the corporate tax rate.



So, no one understands the need for a lower, flatter tax in Wisconsin than Scott Manley of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), the largest and most influential business association in the state.



Manley sat down with Badger Institute President Mike Nichols to discuss how a flat tax would improve Wisconsin’s ability to keep and attract residents and businesses, address the workforce shortage, benefit workers and contribute to overall growth in the Badger State.

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu has proposed a 3.25% flat income tax for Wisconsin, a reform that would simplify the code and grant tax relief to every Badger State taxpayer.



LeMahieu sat down with Badger Institute President Mike Nichols in the Capitol to explain the details of his flat tax proposal and the widespread benefits of pro-growth tax policy.



Read Badger Institute’s flat tax research for the state of Wisconsin: https://www.badgerinstitute.org/report-tax-reform-options-to-improve-wisconsins-competitiveness/