Tax Hell? Not if you consider lower wages in Wisconsin.

Here's a great quick look at our GOP created reputation for being a "tax hell." What Cap Times reporter Mike Ivey didn't mention was the Republican campaign to tell the whole nation just how bad our taxes were here, and how bad Wisconsin was for business. Dumb, yes, but they won complete control of the state politically for their efforts.

WPR audio:

Wisconsin Public Radio hosts Rob Ferrett and Veronica Rueckert spoke with Cap Times business reporter Mike Ivey (who) recently wrote the article titled "Is Wisconsin really a 'tax hell' anymore?"

"You need to be careful when you talk about taxes. Because if you just talk about straight flat tax rates, states where incomes are higher, the ability to pay is greater. One reason Wisconsin has that reputation as tax hell is because our rates weren't necessarily high, but our incomes compared to a lot of states weren't that high. We're sort of middle of the road on income, maybe a little higher on tax end, so … we ended up in the top five range for a long time."  

And while Americans have been convinced THEY aren't the real job creators via consumer demand, are they okay seeing factories and farms paying no taxes at all?

"It's important to remember that first budget under Walker, the 2011-12 budget, it removed income taxes for factory owners and farm owners. So they would no longer pay income tax in Wisconsin. That kicks in in 2014, and that’s probably the most significant tax change Wisconsin has made in decades.” 

And former Gov. Jim Doyle should get some credit for lowering taxes:

"By 2007 we were out of the top 10 on taxes based on per capita income. Things have been going in the right direction since then. ... Say what you want about past Gov. Doyle, but he never got the credit he probably deserved for making a lot of the tough decisions that Walker talks about. Doyle had a hiring freeze on, he vowed to cut 10,000 jobs, he instituted the furloughs, he did a lot of stuff to rein in spending, but didn't get much credit for. But if you look at when Wisconsin started to move out of that top five taxing states, it was under Doyle. There’s some irony there."