Month: February 2017

Bankruptcy filings in Wisconsin fell to their lowest level in nine years last year as an improving economy and jobs climate helped more consumers keep up with their debts.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court data show there were more than 16,800 bankruptcy petitions of all types filed in Wisconsin in 2016. That was down almost 9 percent from 2015 and was the fewest since 2007, when there were just more than 15,600.

Milwaukee bankruptcy attorney James Miller said the slowdown seems to track with a reduction in mortgage foreclosures.

Bankruptcy filings peaked in Wisconsin at nearly 30,000 in 2010 and have been declining ever since, as the economy slowly has healed from the Great Recession and the unemployment rate has dropped, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Preliminary data show the unemployment rate in Wisconsin in December was 4 percent, the lowest since January 2001. Wisconsin’s worst unemployment rate was at the end of 2009, at 9.2 percent.

The 9 percent reduction in bankruptcy filings in Wisconsin last year was better than the overall national average reduction of 6 percent, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute.

About two-thirds of bankruptcy petitions in the state were Chapter 7 filings, which are intended to give people a fresh start by wiping out debt such as overwhelming credit card balances and medical or utility bills.

But bankruptcy attorneys say they’ve found that as employment has increased, fewer people want to file Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcies. They instead opt for a Chapter 13 filing, which allows consumers with regular income to develop a plan to repay all or some of their debts over three to five years.

“A lot of people are saying, `Look, I created these debts. I can’t pay them all back right now but I want to pay as much as I can afford to pay,”‘ said attorney Todd Esser, of EsserLaw LLC in Milwaukee. “And so those repayment plans are working out well.”

Facing impending deadlines that will force municipal water utilities and Wisconsin job creators to spend billions of dollars on costly filtration upgrades, Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) and Rep. Amy Loudenbeck (R-Clinton) today lauded the final approval of the State of Wisconsin’s Phosphorus Multi-Discharger Variance (MDV).

This newly approved reform measure will offer a vastly more cost-effective and resource protective means of reducing the phosphorus in our waters while lowering costs to water utility ratepayers and potentially saving thousands of Wisconsin manufacturing and food production jobs.

“I’m incredibly pleased that we were able to move this much-needed legislation. However, I am still disappointed by the amount of time it took the EPA to review and approve our creative approach to reduce phosphorus,” Cowles said.

This innovative Wisconsin provision will offer a new fee-based compliance option in order for water utilities and manufacturers to meet the strict phosphorus discharge standards. This leaves existing phosphorus standards intact and does not repeal or suspend the existing water quality standards.

“A point-source discharger, such as a municipal wastewater treatment plant or a papermaker, that is eligible for the MDV does not receive a free pass or a proverbial get-out-of-jail-free card,” said Loudenbeck. “Those point-sources,in exchange for reducing their phosphorus discharges over a longer compliance schedule, will pay $50 per pound to counties to complete water quality improvement projects within the watershed the source is located.”

“Wisconsin waterways are significant economic drivers and support our nearly $20 billion tourism industry. The MDV utilizes the flexibility provided to increase funding for nonpoint source pollution. This will result in a more direct approach on phosphorus pollution and increase the protection of our lakes and rivers,” stated Cowles.

The new option will allow water utilities, manufacturers and food processors to assist in reducing non-point phosphorus discharges, which constitute a majority of the phosphorus in our waters.

Tax-related identity theft is an established concern nationwide, as state and federal tax authorities have wrestled for years with a blight of criminals filing fraudulent tax returns using other people’s personally identifiable information. For a scammer, tax identity theft means quick cash. For a victim, it’s a delayed return, concern about who has their personal information, and the fear of what else the criminal might do with these personal details.

“Last year, tax identity theft was a factor in three of every four identity theft complaints that consumers filed with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection,” said Frank Frassetto, Division Administrator for Trade and Consumer Protection. “Federal and state tax authorities have recently put additional safeguards in place to protect the public from this threat during the tax filing process, but taxpayers are chiefly responsible for protecting their own information throughout the year.”

If you run into difficulties when you file, you may be a victim of tax identity theft. If someone misused your identity for a fraudulent return, the IRS or your tax preparer may warn you that multiple returns were filed under your Social Security number, that you owe additional taxes or are facing collection actions for a year you did not file a return, or that you received wages from an employer for whom you did not work.

If you face any of these issues, report the suspected fraud by phone to the IRS (1-800-829-0433) and the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (1-608-266-2486). Contact DATCP’s Consumer Protection Bureau (1-800-422-7128) to inquire about next steps for shoring up your identity. The IRS also advises taxpayers to continue paying their taxes and filing their returns, even if they suspect that they may be victims of identity theft.

“A consumer’s best protection against a criminal filing taxes in your name is to get a jump on the thieves by filing early. Also, if you file your return online, make sure to use up-to-date security software on your computer and set up strong passwords for your tax software login,” said Frassetto.

During the year, follow these simple tips to protect your personally identifiable information:

• Share your sensitive information as rarely as possible. Turn down any request for personal information from an unsolicited caller.
• Don’t carry cards containing sensitive details like your Social Security or Medicare numbers unless you specifically need them (for an appointment, for example).
• Remember that the IRS, United States Treasury and Wisconsin Department of Revenue will NEVER call and threaten you with arrest or legal action about back taxes. Any phone calls of this nature are scams.
• Use online security best practices. Learn how to recognize phishing emails and text messages. Never click on links or download attachments in emails from unknown senders or in emails that seem suspicious.

For additional information or to file a complaint, visit the Consumer Protection Bureau at datcp.wisconsin.gov, call the Consumer Protection Hotline at 1-800-422-7128 or send an e-mail to datcphotline@wisconsin.gov.

National construction employment reached its highest level in January since 2008, as wages in the industry pushed ever higher, according to a trade group.

Employment in the industry increased by 36,000 jobs from December to January, according to an analysis of seasonally adjusted federal data by the Associated General Contractors of America. The roughly 6.8 million people working in the industry in January were the most seen in any month since November 2008.

Hourly earnings in the industry, meanwhile, increased 3.2 percent over the year-long period running through January, rising to $28.52 an hour. Hourly earnings in construction are rising faster than those for all private-sector workers on average, which were up 2.5 percent in the year-long period.

Average wages for all private-sector workers were also slightly lower — at about $26 an hour.

“This report aligns with what contractors have been telling the association — that the construction industry is still eager to add workers,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “The employment gains would be even larger if there were enough workers with the right skills available to hire.”

The industry added 170,000 new jobs from January 2016 to January 2017, according to an analysis of the same jobs data by the Associated Builders and Contractors, a group that largely represents non-union companies. That comes out to a 2.6-percent increase.

Moreover, the nonresidential construction sector added 14,900 new jobs for the month, and the residential sector added 20,300 jobs.

“Today’s employment report indicated growing strength in construction along a variety of dimensions,” said Anirban Basu, chief economist of ABC.

Every generation, Republicans in Wisconsin’s Capitol “reform” welfare.

This year, however, the political stars are aligned—with Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Republican majorities in both houses of the Legislature, and Republican control of the White House and Congress—for the most significant reforms in more than 20 years.

Although exactly what changes Walker wants won’t be known until he introduces his 2017-19 budget on Feb. 8, his aides promised this broad package of changes:

It “will increase investment in job and skills training for the employed and unemployed, reduce barriers to work and increased earnings, and expand programs that incentivize employment. Where flexibility is needed, it will also aggressively seek (Trump Administration) waivers to encourage work and enhance self-sufficiency (and) pilot work requirements for working-age, able-bodied adults receiving housing vouchers.”

Let’s make sure “work is dignifying and connects individuals to society and its values,” Walker said. Public aid should be a “trampoline—not a hammock,” he added in his State of the State speech.

For the history lesson on how Wisconsin became a petri dish for welfare reform, let’s consider how four-term Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson—who traveled Wisconsin with Walker last week to endorse the new changes—justified his 1994 reforms, Wisconsin Works or W2. Walker is calling his changes Wisconsin Works for Everyone.

In his book, “Power to the People,” Thompson said he gave these marching orders:

“I wanted a program built around work. I wanted to end the cash benefit premise of welfare and replace it with a real-world concept: pay for performance. Everyone would have to work, and only work would pay. I described it as a new contract… Government would agree to provide child care, health care, and other assistance for a limited time to help people find and keep a job.

“In return, people must be willing to take personal responsibility for themselves and their families. They have to get up in the morning, get the kids fed and off to school or day care, and get themselves to a job—just like ordinary, hard-working Americans.”

Here’s a 2017 example of that, Walker said: An able-bodied adult with one or more children over age 6 should be required to work 80 hours per month, or be enrolled in job-training programs, to qualify for food stamps. Children in those families would not lose food stamps, however. With some exceptions, healthy adults between ages 18 and 50 without minor children have a work or job training requirement to get food stamps.

But Thompson also offered a welfare-reform warning to Walker and Republicans who control the Legislature: It costs “more money up front. We invested more money in child care, health care, transportation and caseworkers who would work with people one-on-one.”

Democratic legislators from Milwaukee fought Thompson’s welfare reforms then, and are again. This generation of Milwaukee Democrats have much less Capitol clout.

“May I ask, how are you going to be able to only penalize the adult—and not the child?” Democratic Sen. Lena Taylor told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, referring to new food stamps criteria.

Beyond the political rhetoric, how many Wisconsin residents would have their lives reshaped by welfare reform?

The fine-print details of Walker’s proposals won’t be known for weeks. But the state Department of Health Services reported that 352,148 households—or “assistance groups,” in bureaucrat speak—received food stamps in December. That’s about one out of every six households statewide.

Of those households, 41 percent of them had children. And, the average help from food stamps those households got last month was $211.

Other questions legislators will ask about Walker’s welfare changes:

–How many of these households now have one or more working adults?

–Of them, how many households already have an adult who meets new criteria of working at least 80 hours per month, or getting job training?

–How many people now exempt from the work requirement would continue to be exempt for other reasons—chronic homelessness or mental health problems, for example.

Why threaten to end recipients’ benefits? “People move faster when you require them to do something, either training or work,” Thompson wrote.