Browsing: Taxes

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.

Twenty months after Congress passed a bill that rained $2.53 billion down on Wisconsin, the governor’s office in sole charge of administering the funding, as well as  legislative audit and budget officials, have almost no idea of how all that money is being spent.

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 October 5, 2022 — The Badger Institute today…

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

Dave Obey isn’t bone-tired after all. When the former House Appropriations chairman stunned the Beltway — and his district back…

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

By now, the health emergency has little to do with it

At the time the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its first major assessment of federal COVID-19 spending in March, more than 400 people had pleaded guilty to defrauding the programs and another 550 had been charged with felony fraud.

With cost overruns on bridge, road and other infrastructure megaprojects in Wisconsin as certain as death, taxes and Packers’ title-run failures, budget hawks are on high alert with new federal money about to inundate the state.

Sometime during the 2023 session, the Wisconsin Legislature is expected to approve a resolution proposing that voters consider amending the state constitution to restore long-lost legislative oversight of major federal spending initiatives in the state.