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Yes.
On May 2, 2023, the Republican-controlled budget committee of the Wisconsin Legislature, the Joint Committee on Finance, voted to exclude the sales tax exemption for menstrual products proposed in Gov. Tony Evers’ 2023-25 budget.
The committee also removed exemptions for diapers. Those tax exemptions would have reduced revenue by $32.8 million over two years, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Republicans also stripped out a proposed tax exemption for breastfeeding equipment at a cost of $1.2 million over two years.
In a single vote, the committee removed 545 proposals from the budget, including an enrollment freeze in the voucher school program, marijuana legalization and repeal of a tax exemption for farm-raised deer sales.
Republicans similarly rejected a large number of proposals in Evers’ previous two biennial budgets, which included some of the same items that were proposed and rejected this session.
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Sources
Wisconsin State Legislature Summary of Governor’s Budget Recommendations | 2023-25 Wisconsin State Budget
Wisconsin Public Radio GOP lawmakers remove hundreds of items from Gov. Tony Evers’ budget
WUWM Wisconsin’s budget committee approves higher pay for prosecutors, defense attorneys
