ABSTRACT
The importance of the surtax lay partly in the debate within Wisconsin over taxes and spending in the 1950s and partly in the broader context of national politics. Furthermore, Wisconsin Republicans had made one great exception to their tax-cutting ways in the 1940s by approving a surtax on income; it was intended, for teacher salaries and training. Walter Kohler's first major speech on taxes and spending, his January budget message, pleased some Democrats and irritated some Republicans. Kohler talked about programs and spending imperatives, including the need to boost veteran's payments and increase the salaries of state administrators. Henceforth, Kohler's relationship with the groups lobbying to reduce taxes grew to be highly symbiotic. They thumped for change, suggested reductions in spending, in effect, did much of the necessary foundational work needed to reduce the surtax. Kohler's proposal to keep a portion of the surtax intact carried with it a further carrot for all the groups advocating tax cuts and GOP allies.
