A policy brief from the Tax Foundation and the Badger Institute.
August 2018
A whole lot more Wisconsinites are about to feel the sting of high state and local taxes (SALT) in ways they never have before — a fact that will lead either to a whole lot more dissatisfaction with elected officials or to substantive tax reform in Madison.
An empowered treasurer could be an independent voice for fiscal sanity. If state lawmakers heed the voters’ unmistakable message, the Legislature can take meaningful steps toward fiscal responsibility.
Broad-based Wisconsin tax reform should be the goal, not short-term targeted breaks that benefit only a narrow class of taxpayers.
The funding mechanism — originally created to alleviate urban blight — has become a gravy train for developers and distorts the free market, critics say. There were 1,238 active tax incremental districts in 456 Wisconsin municipalities in 2017.
Wisconsin Public Radio interview with visiting fellow Jay Miller on Opportunity Zones, new federal tax incentives for economic investment in impoverished communities.
Gov. Walker says he'll decide on Opportunity Zone designations by March 21 federal deadline.
Residents in high-tax states like ours are stung harder by cap on state/local tax deduction. There has never been a more opportune moment for tax reform in Wisconsin.
Miller, an attorney from Whitefish Bay who is also an adjunct professor at UWM, says 'there has never been more opportune moment' for Wisconsin tax reform. He will focus primarily on tax policy.
Priorities for 2018 should include, among other things, tax reform. Despite recent improvements, the Badger State continues to suffer from high income taxes and a very poor tax mix. Our individual and corporate income taxes are still among the highest in the Midwest. Federal tax reform adds another layer of urgency.
Many taxpayers in the Badger State could take a hit under changes proposed in the House Republican tax bill. The consequence of capping property tax deductions, along with eliminating the state income tax deduction, would effectively punish a large swath of Wisconsin residents just for living where they do.
The institute welcomes the state Assembly's commitment to comprehensive tax reform. The institute and the Tax Foundation are moving forward with an analysis of the state tax structure and policy recommendations for the 2019 budget.
Badger State residents still pay a mother lode of taxes — way more, given how little the average Wisconsinite makes, than almost anyone else in America. Our total state-local tax burden per capita as a percentage of income, 11 percent, is the fourth-highest in the United States.
Claiming to have a workforce strategy without a real strategy to attract and retain people makes little sense. Other states have cut taxes across the board. Wisconsin has not focused on individual tax cuts but rather on business tax cuts.
New findings trumpeted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel fail to break down Wisconsin’s tax burden by income categories or on a regional basis. Not only do middle- and upper-income taxpayers pay disproportionately higher taxes by living in Wisconsin, those who live in the Milwaukee area pay an even steeper price due to the property taxes levied there.
Wisconsin should not assume that it will gain from Illinois’ predicament unless it takes steps to improve its own income tax competitiveness. As one might expect, Wisconsin’s fiscal house is in much better order than Illinois’. Yet, the income tax disparity between the two states, one whose government is mostly blue and the other mostly red, creates a picture that is the opposite of what one would expect.
Report: Economists from Suffolk University’s Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy have determined through economic modeling that Wisconsin would benefit long-term from further tax cuts. Yet, they’ve found, Wisconsin doesn’t just suffer from high taxes. It suffers from the wrong tax mix. While our sales taxes are lower than those in two-thirds of other states, our income and property tax burdens remain significantly higher. There is a clear need for Wisconsin to step back on firm ground and consider a new tax mix that lowers more harmful income and property taxes and broadens the sales tax base.