Wisconsin Drops to 16th Highest Taxed
And now ranks 22nd among states when all fees included, new report shows.
American Cash by Psychonaught. Photo of money
New Census Bureau figures just released for 2014 show Wisconsin’s state-local tax burden declining from 15th highest among the states in 2013 to 16th in 2014. Taxes here fell from 10.9% of personal income in 2013 to 10.8% in 2014. Nationally, taxes relative to income rose from 10.4% in 2013 to 10.6% in 2014. Census figures always lag two years.
After reaching 11.8% of income in 2011, Wisconsin’s state-local tax burden declined for three consecutive years, due largely to a drop in local taxes as a share of personal income. During 2011-14, Wisconsin’s local tax burden fell from 4.8% to 4.1% of income. By comparison, state taxes as a share of personal income dropped less—0.3 percentage points, from 7.0% to 6.7%. A tightening of property tax limits imposed by the state on local governments explain the drop in local tax burden.
The newly-released Census figures also show that, among Wisconsin’s major taxes:
- Property taxes claimed 3.9% of income, 11th highest among the states;
- Individual income taxes claimed 2.8% of income, 12th highest nationally;
- Sales taxes took 2.0% of income, 34th highest; and
- Corporate income taxes claimed 0.4% of income, 15th highest.
A broader measure of state-local revenue adds to taxes fees charged by state or local governments. Combined, taxes and fees in Wisconsin claimed 13.8% of income in 2014, down from 14.0% in 2013. The state’s rank on this tax-and-fee measure declined from 18th to 22nd.
WISTAX is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to public policy research and citizen education.
When you count how many services people take for granted that don’t exist in other states, I think it’s a decent trade off. Indianapolis quit paving sidewalks and putting up street lamps in the city in 1980, and over two hundred people have been killed since then walking in the streets at night. Is this anyones idea of a metropolitan ethos? This is what happens with “small government-small taxes” proponents. They cause change like this, and then move to the wealthy suburbs where they don’t have to live in it…
Hi Andy, do you have any evidence that the 200+ people killed were killed in places without street lights, and evidence that those who were killed in such areas were assaulted there because of the lack of lights? 200 people over 36 years is roughly 5.5 per year. How many of them were engaged in criminal activities?
Even if all those 5.5 killings per year were because of money saving measures, in the real world they still must be be balanced against the costs to others of not saving tax money. As important as 5.5 deaths/year are, the trade offs in jobs destroyed, moved elsewhere, or never created at all because of a combination of regulations and taxes is not something we can just dismiss.
To varying degrees, the rust belt states and cities increased taxes and regulations just as established companies ran into increased competition from newer companies with new, more efficient equipment, fewer regulations, and lower taxes. The destruction of jobs is no small thing, and may well contribute to higher crime rates. After all, if poverty does cause crime, one of the solutions is a dynamic economy which reduces the numbers of impoverished. High taxes and many regulations militate against that dynamism.