Gov. Scott Walker put out a release this morning which was interesting…

Today Governor Walker announced that statewide property taxes for the typical homeowner have gone down for the first time in 12 years.  The tax bill for the median value home is $39 per homeowner lower than originally estimated by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau when the 2011-2013 budget was passed.

“Our reforms have reversed a decade of property tax increases from previous administrations,” said Governor Walker.  “For the first time in over ten years, the average property taxpayer will have more money in his or her pocket than the year before.”

Since 1998, property taxes paid by homeowners have risen 43 percent.  This year property taxes paid by the typical homeowner went down 4 percent.  Without the Governor’s reforms the average homeowner would have paid an additional $700 over the biennium.

Along with the release was a chart…

When you try to do this, you get recalled. Not that Walker is likely to lose the recall. He’s going to win, and the unions will have spent a big pile of money on not a lot of success.

But states – who have to balance their budgets – that can cut taxes are states which are doing a lot better job of managing their money. Walker is an example of somebody who has a clue. He was willing to deal harshly with the unions and pay the price they’d exact on him politically in an effort to properly manage that money.

Walker needs to be held up as the standard. We should keep him in mind as we watch the Louisiana legislature’s efforts to resolve an $800 million (or larger) budget deficit or enact pension reform.