Browsing: Spending and Accountability

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.

The problem is far too severe to be solved by increasing taxes on the wealthy or by cutting the bureaucracy. In other words, nothing that resembles business-as-usual will close Wisconsin’s looming budget hole.

The state’s budget problems are due to the cumulative effect of bad budget practices which have persisted for the better part of the past decade, in good and bad economic times.

As Wisconsin’s debt load continues to grow, the tax burden for Wisconsin families and businesses will grow right along with it

Why you’ll pay more at the pump

The future impact in Wisconsin

The impact of state taxes

In state capitols across the country governors and legislatures have been forced to put all of their energy into solving enormous fiscal shortfalls. Given their dependence on income tax and sales tax revenues, the 2001 recession hit state governments particularly hard. In 2003, no fewer than 39 states, including Wisconsin, experienced budget gaps. During the

A flawed idea for schools and for taxpayers

In 2002, state and local government spending in Wisconsin was 7.7% above the national average while our income level was 2.8% below the national average

A critical examination

Early in the postwar era, Wisconsin was not among the nation’s highest-taxed states, as measured by state and local taxes.1 Relative to personal income, Wisconsin’s tax burden flirted with the “top ten” during those years, but did not reach it. That changed in 1963 when the full effect of sales and income tax increases enacted

Wisconsin state government is facing the most significant financial challenge in its history. The state budget is out of balance by $3.2 billion. The irony here is that the crisis comes close on the heels of the 1990s, when state government seemed able to do anything. That was the era of elevated spending, new programs,

Dale Belman, Ph.D. & John Heywood, Ph.D. The setting of public sector compensation should command the attention of all citizens. The level of such compensation helps determine both the competence and efficiency of government services. Too high a level wastes the resources of state and local governments, depriving them of the opportunity to address other