The Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) said today the state is now facing a gross deficit of $143.2 million for the 2011-13 biennium, a difference of almost $216 million from past projections.

The LFB said several factors combined to worsen the state's fiscal outlook, including a $272.8 million drop in projected tax revenues through June 30, 2013. The agency noted the projected shortfall exceeds the trigger requiring the governor to submit a budget repair bill and said Gov. Scott Walker's administration is discussing steps to address the deficit, including debt refinancing and restructuring.

Walker issued the following statement in reaction to the report: "For over a year, we have been committed to making the tough choices to turn Wisconsin around. The numbers from the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau show that our tough choices have us heading in the right direction. According to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau we will finish this fiscal year with a surplus. Moving forward, we're confident in our ability to finish the biennium with a balanced budget. As we have done in the last year, we will continue to manage the Wisconsin taxpayers' money well, so we can keep the state's fiscal house in order. We'll keep our budget balanced without the job-killing tax increases implemented in the years before we took office; tax increases that led to over 150,000 Wisconsinites losing their jobs in the years before we took office. In contrast, we've added thousands of jobs this year, have the lowest unemployment rate since 2008, lowered the tax burden and will end the year with a surplus. Our actions also stand in stark contrast to recent announcements by other states of what they are doing. In Illinois, Governor Quinn is proposing $2 billion in cuts to Medicaid and higher taxes, on top of the massive tax increase he implemented last year. In Maryland, the Governor proposed raising taxes by a billion dollars this year, including raising the gas tax by 18 cents.  All told a Maryland family making about $30,000 a year would see their taxes go up 6 percent. When compared to the past and to other states Wisconsin is heading in the right direction."

Mike Tate, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, issued the following statement: "After a disastrous budget that gutted public education and gave away billions to corporate special interests and the super-rich, and a phony ‘budget repair bill'" that stripped workers' rights and slashed health care, we are now realizing the effects of Scott Walker's fiscal mismanagement. Wisconsin's budget condition has deteriorated to the point that emergency action may be required. And chief among the reasons for the worsened outlook are Scott Walker's six straight months of job loss and failed economic policies that have created a projected $273 million loss in revenue. Scott Walker has said repeatedly that the public just needed time to see how his reforms were working. Now we've had time and all we see is Wisconsin leading the nation in jobs loss and cuts to public education, while wealthy special interests get richer. Today's news is one more reason why the people will recall and replace Scott Walker."