Browsing: Tax Reform

Wisconsin’s flat tax is about what needs to happen next year and the year after that, and down the road even further when our kids are grown and tempted to take that job in Austin because all that’s left here is vacant office space and minimum wage gigs at the local vape shop. It’s about growing the pie the way CROWE assures us can happen.

More than one former Wisconsinite has told me over the years that to be considered a resident of another state – and be exempt from paying Wisconsin’s high taxes without completely abandoning your family and friends back home – you have to spend six months and a day there.

Turns out that’s not true.

Many of the folks proudly wearing the cardinal and white are Wisconsin transplants who are now sunburnt Florida residents. They were lured south, many of them, for short stints by the sun and the surf, but stayed for the taxes — or, actually, the lack thereof.

Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu has introduced a plan to transition over four years to a flat 3.25% individual income tax from the current four-bracket structure with a top rate of 7.65%.

He discussed the plan in this office in the Capitol Wednesday with Badger Institute President Mike Nichols in this week’s edition of the Institute’s Free Exchange podcast.

The Badger Institute today celebrated the news that Wisconsin lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg), are unveiling legislation to shift our state to a single-rate personal income tax — a recommendation made by the Badger Institute and Tax Foundation in in July. 

A new poll found a surprising gap in voters’ understanding of how Wisconsin taxes compare to neighboring states, even as an unprecedented state revenue surplus makes tax reform a key issue in Madison.

The poll, of 480 registered voters in December, asked, “How do the taxes people pay in Wisconsin compare to the taxes people pay in neighboring states?”

On Dec. 14, the Badger Institute submitted the following comments to Gov. Tony Evers’ statewide listening session tour on the 2023-25 executive budget.

A flat tax would dramatically improve Wisconsin’s standing in an increasingly competitive tax environment – and could be done without raising taxes on anyone.

Robin Vos, fresh off a victory that seals his role as Speaker of the Assembly and now coming on 30 years in local and state politics, threw out a couple olive branches at Gov. Tony Evers Thursday that cynics might say are just the post-election niceties that invariably morph into barbs and stiff-arms in the Capitol hallways.

There are numerous ways Wisconsin could move to a flat income tax while benefitting Wisconsinites across the income spectrum. The most obvious solution is to flatten the rate while increasing the standard deduction, as proposed by the Tax Foundation and the Badger Institute in the July 2022 report Tax Reform Options to Improve Wisconsin’s Competitiveness.

It’s campaign season, so the only numbers that seem to matter to the mainstream media are the ones in polls.

Institute research shows that flat tax would improve state competitiveness, increase prosperity CONTACT: Michael Jahr, vice president: michael@badgerinstitute.org or (262) 442-5208 October…

Much to his credit, WTMJ’s Charles Benson broke a big – if potentially fleeting – story at the start of the Republican gubernatorial debate earlier this week.

The century-old progressive income tax is no longer a viable model

Tax reform options to improve Wisconsin’s Competitiveness

A new report from the Tax Foundation and the Badger Institute offers five comprehensive tax reform options to enhance Wisconsin’s tax competitiveness by reducing harmful taxes on labor and investment.

Policymakers should advance reforms that prioritize GSP, personal income growth

The Badger Institute today announced partnerships with several leading research organizations and subject matter experts who will contribute to its 2022 Mandate for Madison, a policy roadmap for the governor and Legislature beginning in 2023.

The following is testimony delivered by Badger Institute Senior Vice President Michael Jahr in favor of AB 692, a bill designed to eliminate the marriage penalty for participants in the Wisconsin Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program.

Many workers will see more in their 2022 paychecks as a result