State sales tax collections in Wisconsin were down ten percent in the month of September, and income and corporate tax collections are down for the year. Governor Jim Doyle said that means the state could be facing a three billion dollar deficit in the next two year budget cycle.
“Since September collections reflect August economic activity, we are I think justifiably concerned, that the full impact of the credit and stock market crisis is yet to be felt in tax collections,” Doyle said during a press conference Wednesday in his state Capitol office. “We are certainly looking at more than three billion dollars in deficit, and it could grow well beyond that, if the nation’s economy continues to spiral downward.”