MADISON, Wis. -- Gov.-elect Scott Walker wants to lure out-of-state retirees back home with tax cuts and parties, saying the state needs their investment dollars.
Speaking at a symposium of startup companies in Madison on Thursday, Walker said there's little reason for senior citizens to stay in Wisconsin besides grandchildren. But he feels they're a powerful investment force for startups in the state.
He hopes to coax them back by phasing out state taxes on retirement accounts and traveling to Sun Belt retirement enclaves in places like Naples, Fla., and Sedona, Ariz., to hold "welcome back" parties.
"We don't just want you back, we want your money back," he said. "We're just going to send a signal it's OK to come back here."
Walker, a Republican, didn't elaborate on what retirement taxes he wants to end and left the symposium without taking questions from reporters. His spokesman, Cullen Werwie, didn't immediately respond to a message.
Jim Flaherty, a spokesman for Wisconsin AARP, said he hadn't heard of Walker's welcome-back plan and the chapter isn't sure what retirement taxes he has in mind.
"It appears he wants to help senior citizens get back to Wisconsin and help them grow old with dignity," Flaherty said. "We'd have to see what it looks like. If it helps our demographic, we would certainly support it."
Walker may have a tough sell. The sagging economy and other factors have made it difficult to sell homes - especially in places like California and Arizona - and retirees would be trading sunshine and swimming pools for blizzards and ice.
Sandy Lantz, 65, and her husband, James, 58, relocated nearly five years ago from Walworth in southern Wisconsin to Sun City Center, a Florida retirement community. They left the state after James Lantz's display-design business went under in the early 2000s and they lost two homes.
Now she works as a diet technician at a local hospital and heads up the Sun City Center Wisconsin retirement club. Her husband drives a golf cart to his job as security director at two retirement communities. They still have children and grandchildren in Wisconsin, but she said nothing Walker could say would bring them back.
"I wouldn't return just because of the snow, and that's honest," she said. "It's wonderful (here). There's a community association here, they have a clubhouse, a swimming pool, clubs. We're really happy here and our lives have turned around."
Meda Cates, membership director for Sun City Grand, a retirement community in Surprise, Ariz., said she doesn't expect Wisconsin retirees there to leave.
"Sometimes people live here and go back to Minnesota and Wisconsin and they're not happy because this lifestyle here is so geared to retirees," she said. "They're with a community of people just like them."
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