State-Local Tax Burden Lowest Since 1962
Now ranks 16th in the nation.
Cash. Photo by Moritz Wickendorf.
New U.S. Census figures show Wisconsin’s state-local tax burden was 10.8% of personal income in 2014, 16th highest in the nation but the lowest since 1962. Total state-local expenditures, funded with taxes,
fees, and federal aids, claimed 20.1% of income and ranked 21st. These are two key findings in a new Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WISTAX) report, “Big Changes Happen Slowly.” Now entering its 85th year, WISTAX is a nonpartisan organization devoted to public policy research and citizen education.
Despite intermittent fluctuations, Wisconsin’s state-local tax burden has been trending down for about 20 years. In 1993, state-local taxes claimed 12.6% of personal income and ranked third nationally. By 2002, that percentage was 11.1% and the state ranked sixth. Taxes reached 11.8% of income in 2011, but the state-local tax burden has declined every year through 2014, according to WISTAX researchers. While the 2014 tax take was the lowest since 1962, it remained above the U.S. average (10.6%).
A broader measure of the “cost” of government adds various state and local fees to taxes. State campground fees, university tuition, and charges for local building permits are examples of user fees. The “tax-plus-fee” burden was 13.8% of personal income, equal to the 50-state average and 22nd highest among the states.
Among major taxes:
- Wisconsin’s property tax claimed 3.9% of income and ranked 11th;
- The individual income tax claimed 2.8% of income and placed 12th;
- The sales tax claimed 2.0% of personal income, 34th highest; and
- The corporate income tax claimed 0.4% of income and ranked 15th.
On the other side of the ledger, state-local spending here is dominated by three areas: education, public welfare, and roads. Combined, these three areas accounted for two-thirds of state-local spending. In only four states—Arkansas, Kentucky, Vermont, and West Virginia—do these three account for a greater share of spending.
The new WISTAX report highlights 15-year changes in Wisconsin’s spending priorities. Driven largely
by increased Medicaid spending, public welfare expenditures increased 175% during 1999-2014, from $4.1 billion to $11.3 billion. By comparison, all other state-local spending rose 59%. As a share of all spending, public welfare rose from 14.7% in 1999 to 23.0% in 2014, crowding out spending in other areas.
There was also a shift within the education sector. In 1999, spending on K-12 schools accounted for 72% of total education spending, with higher education claiming the remaining 28%. By 2014, the split was 63%-37%. A good part of the change was due to enrollment changes: K-12 student numbers were down 1% during this period, while higher education counts rose almost 20%.
A similar shift occurred in road and highway spending. In 1999, 61% of all road and highway spending was local, with the remainder at the state level. During 1999-2015, state highway spending more than doubled, while local spending rose at about half that rate. By 2014, local road spending accounted for 54% of the total; the state share rose from 39% to 46%.
The study also examines another long-term shift in state-local spending: During 1999-2014, the share of all spending done locally fell from 63% to 52%.
WisTax
-
22 Counties Trail State in Job Growth
![Marinette County Courthouse. Photo by Bobak Ha'Eri (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://urbanmilwaukee.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/1024px-2009-0619-Marinette-Court-185x122.jpg)
Oct 11th, 2017 by Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance
-
Local Government Finances Are Stable
Sep 17th, 2017 by Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance
-
School Spending Falls Below National Average
Aug 29th, 2017 by Todd A. Berry
A lot of boomers in retirement phase(not paying much income taxes) and 40 percent of millennials have mommy paying their rent( not paying into the tax system), so the two biggest groups of Wisconsinites really shouldn’t be burdened by taxes.
My property and state taxes have gone up over the last 8 years. But I read about tax credits and tax cuts for the very rich in Wisconsin quite often these days. So no..I am not happy with being 16th or 35th or even 50th if it means I still pay as much or more and yet education, roads, local projects, social supports, environmental regulations and inspectors and other valuable and necessary services are cut. I am fine with paying a little more if it means my government is using it for the things it is meant to be used for and not just enriching those who are already rich.
Thank you to Governor Walker and the Republican Legislature for rescuing us from the fiscal cliff AND reducing our tax burden. One only has to take a look at the financial disaster of Illinois to see the alternative. Soaring taxes, broke pension plans, and a backlog of billions in unpaid bills piling up.
That’s the kind of train wreck that Democrats like the Daleys and Madigans specialize in.
My property taxes have been same for 6 years while under Doyle they went up 3-5% yearly.
The fact that this organization frames taxes as a “burden” rather than a social responsibility and an investment is very telling.
I would also argue that the reason public welfare spending has increased so much is that wages have not kept up with inflation / COL and the minimum wage is too low, so even people who work full time may still need benefits just to get by. Anti-worker policies, union busting, and wealth consolidation at the top are all reasons for this. You make it harder for ordinary people to get ahead, and then they need help, and then you decry so-called handouts and tax increases.
Our responsibility is to grow the economy, so that wages grow faster than inflation, by productivity growth. That is how it works, not by govt edit.
In Wisconsin our responsibility is so good that we are in the top ten, and still the tax eaters whine and complain.
I love how right-wingers always point to Illinois when they want to bash Democrats, as if there aren’t 48 other states in the nation. It would be like Browns fans defending the team by constantly pointing out how much worse the Jaguars are. As I have posted here repeatedly, the states with the strongest economies in this country are blue states (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/opinion/campaign-stops/the-path-to-prosperity-is-blue.html?_r=0).
Also, our property taxes have gone up five consecutive years.