Amount of Income Wisconsinites Pay in Taxes Has Steadily Declined

Tuesday, November 26th, 2024 -- 10:00 AM

(Anya van Wagtendonk, Wisconsin Public Radio) The amount of income that Wisconsinites pay in taxes has been steadily declining, and is now at its lowest rate, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

According to Anya van Wagtendonk with Wisconsin Public Radio, the nonpartisan organization measures Wisconsin’s “tax burden,” an expression that encapsulates the ratio of state and local taxes a person pays relative to their income.

In 2022, the most recent year for which U.S. Census records exist, Wisconsinites paid 9.9 percent of their income toward taxes, lower than the national average of 11.1 percent.

That marks a sizeable decrease in Wisconsinites’ tax burden, a consequence of increased income, caps on property tax increases and sizeable statewide income tax cuts, according to the Policy Forum’s communications director, Mark Sommerhauser.

“The share of our income that we pay in state and local taxes here in Wisconsin has been declining steadily over more than two decades, and … that was just a continuation of something that’s been happening for a while,” Sommerhauser said.

That trend translates to Wisconsin ranking 35th in the country for size of tax burden. That’s a dramatic change from 25 years ago, when Wisconsin ranked third in the nation.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.