Top wage earners get biggest benefit from Gov. Scott Walker's tax cuts
"People shouldn't be misled to think there's much in it for the bottom two-fifths of Wisconsin," Peacock said of Walker's latest plan.
Reschovsky said the proposed property tax cut would be of some help overall to renters, since it would help to hold down rent increases. But it would also help state companies with Wisconsin parcels and well-to-do families with vacation homes, not just elderly homeowners struggling to pay their annual tax bills.
Top 5% of Wisconsin Residents Get 18% of Tax Cuts Proposed by the Governor
We’re primarily concerned that Governor Walker’s plan ignores holes in the current budget, and creates a deeper hole in the next one – boosting the structural deficit in 2013-15 to $825 million.
That said, many people have asked us about the distribution of the proposed tax cuts, and we asked the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) to crunch the numbers for us. The ITEP analysis — which focused just on the two major changes in the Governor’s plan — found that the top 5% of Wisconsinites, who made $161,000 or more in 2013, will get 18% of the tax cuts. By contrast, the bottom 40% get just 15% of the benefit.
- Wisconsin went from 15th highest in 2000 to 27th in 2008 in state and local general revenue per capita, and from 13th to 23rd in total spending per capita.
- Total government spending at the state and local level in Wisconsin was $570 (6.1%) per person below the national average in 2007-08.
- In direct general spending, Wisconsin was $345 (4.4%) below the national average in per capita spending.
- Total state and local taxes were $40 per person less in Wisconsin in FY 2008 than the national average, and Wisconsin ranked 17th in that category (compared to 8th in 2000).
- On a per capita basis, Wisconsin ranks 46th in federal revenue, 17 percent below average.
- The number of state and local employees per 1,000 state residents was 8.2% below average, ranking 41st nationally.
- State and local spending for public employee payrolls was 9 percent below the national average and ranked 33rd.
- State and local spending in Wisconsin in fiscal year 2008 was 4.4 percent below the national average when it is measured on a per capita basis.
