by Benjamin Yount
Another report brings another round of good news for Wisconsin taxpayers.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum released a new study on Thursday that says the state’s tax burden is at its lowest level ever.
“With a historic state income tax cut now in effect, the combined state and local taxes paid by Wisconsin residents and businesses in 2022 fell as a share of income in the state to the lowest level on record,” the report states. “In fiscal year 2022 (the 12 months ended on June 30), state and local tax revenues fell as a share of personal income in the state to just under 10.1%, down from 10.3% in 2021.”
The Policy Forum has been tracking Wisconsin’s tax burden going back to 1970.
“One major cause of the drop in 2022 – though far from the only one – is the $1 billion a year cut in state income taxes approved as part of the 2021-23 budget,” the report added. “Another is the state’s policy of limiting most property tax increases by local governments in the state – from towns and cities to school districts.”
Policy forum researchers say it is also key that Wisconsin taxpayers saw a 6.7% growth in their personal income in 2021, that’s the most recent year with available data.
Total state and local tax collections in Wisconsin rose to $35.3 billion in the most recent fiscal year, up about 4% from $33.9 billion the previous year.
Of that total, State tax collections came to $23.7 billion in 2022, up from $22.6 billion in 2021. Another approximately $10 billion came from local taxes.
Personal income taxes continue to be Wisconsin’s largest tax, followed by the state’s tax, and then the state’s corporate income tax.
Wisconsin has seen tax collections steadily grow for the past several years, back to at least 2014 according to the Policy Forum.
That growth, along with limited spending by the Republicans who control the state legislature, has resulted in a record $6.6 billion surplus.
Lawmakers and Gov. Evers are talking in this new year about just how to spend that money.
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Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Wisconsin State Capitol” by Vijay Kumar Koulampet. CC BY-SA 3.0.
