State's Tax Revenue Came in Higher Than Expected During Last Fiscal Year

Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 -- 10:01 AM

(Sarah Lehr, Wisconsin Public Radio) The state’s tax revenue came in higher than expected during the last fiscal year, according to preliminary figures released this week by Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue.

According to Sarah Lehr with Wisconsin Public Radio, in all, the state’s tax-collecting agency brought in $23.1 billion in general purpose revenue during the 2026 fiscal year, which ended on June 30 of this year.

That’s 2 percent higher, or $450 million more, than an estimate released by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau back in January for the 2026 fiscal year. It’s also 3.4 percent higher than the tax collections for fiscal year 2025.

Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue has cautioned that the latest numbers have not yet been audited, and state officials have not yet released an updated number to reflect Wisconsin’s final budget balance. But the higher tax collection numbers could push the state’s financial surplus even higher than previously reported, to roughly $3 billion.

“Though the increased collections are only half of the half of the story, ” cautioned Tyler Byrnes, a researcher with the Wisconsin Policy Forum, a nonpartisan think tank. “To get a final sense of what the general fund balance is going to be at the end of the year, we need to look at what the spending changes were.”

The tax collection figures come as candidates for governor and the state Legislature debate how Wisconsin should spend its budget surplus. Ahead of the latest DOR report, some observers had been predicting a less rosy financial situation for the state.

“Back the spring, we kind of thought, well, you know, we can’t have another one of these relatively big instances where collections outpace projections,” Byrnes of the Wisconsin Policy Forum said. “It turned out that they did.” Byrnes pointed to financial “headwinds,” including inflation, rising gas prices and a “softening job market.”

“But also we’ve been consistently seeing relatively good job growth, relatively good GDP (gross domestic product) growth,” he said. “So it’s this interesting case where there’s some mixed signals on the economy.”

In particular, Byrnes said the state’s corporate income tax collections are going up, which he attributed to rising corporate profits, especially in the tech sector.

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