BELLEVUE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK)- Governor Walker was in Northeast Wisconsin at Mills Fleet Farm in Bellevue, promoting his $100 child tax rebate, as the website for parents to sign up, went live.
Tuesday was the first day to sign up for the rebate.
Parents and guardians throughout the state can take advantage of the money if they have a child under the age of 18.
“Because of the economy, because of the reforms we’ve done in state government we had a larger than expected surplus,” said Walker about where the rebate money came from.
He spoke to employees and customers at the Mills Fleet Farm in Bellevue about details of the rebate.
“And so our thought was, the best way to deal with that was to send it back to the hard-working taxpayers of the state,” said Walker. “And the easiest most effective way to do that was through a child tax rebate.
The money will be given to families just in time to buy back-to-school supplies.
All four of Linda Waldschmidt’s kids are older than18 but she remembers how costly the beginning of the school year can be.
“I’m a big proponent of raising the next generation of leaders, and I think this is a wonderful opportunity to do so and to help families to be able to afford to send their children to school,” she said.
Many people find that the rebate will be useful, but some would rather see the money go directly to schools.
“The $100 will help towards school supplies, yes, but Governor Walker did take a lot away from the schools,” said Rose Vandenplas. “Funding was taken from music and art, so I’d rather the money go to the extra school.”
Walker also addressed the opposition.
“The people who are critics think it’s their money. We actually believe it’s your money,” said Walker. “We believe in the individual, they believe in the government. We think when we have a surplus that means we’ve already fulfilled our priorities, we’ve already fulfilled our commitments.”
Representative Gordon Hintz said it’s a bad financial decision.
“He sees that he’s in trouble electorally and he out of nowhere announced that he wanted to give $100 to everybody and was adamant that it happens during the election, not the traditional tax period,” said Hintz. “So, I think it really falls under the gimmick category and it’s really been mocked nationally.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 70,000 people already signed up to claim the rebate.
Families have until July 2, 2018.
Find out more. Everyone with children under the age of 18 as of December 31, 2017, can claim their credit on ChildTaxRebate.wi.gov from today through July 2.”
Those without internet access can call (608) 266-5437 to sign up.
