You've probably heard how high our income taxes, right? Republicans can look like heroes when they cut them. But in reality, the wealthy are the ones getting the meaningful cuts.
Thanks to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance, we can prove that point:
Wisconsin’s income tax claims a greater share of income than all but 10 of the 41 states with a general income tax, according to federal figures.
But, a new study from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WISTAX), “State Tax Rankings: Digging a Little Deeper,” finds that rank can actually range from as high as seventh to as low as 33rd, depending on filer income. WISTAX is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization devoted to public policy research and citizen education he Badger State is one of 33 with a graduated income tax; i.e., the tax rate increases with income. Wisconsin was one of 10 with the most progressive income taxes in 2010.
Increasing tax rates, a sliding standard deduction, and relatively generous credits for low-income households help explain the varied ranks by income. For example, a married couple with two children earning $20,000 per year would have the 33rd highest income tax burden in the nation. However, that rank rises to 25th at $35,000 and 15th at $50,000.
Taxpayers with incomes of $75,000 or $100,000 paid income taxes that were higher than those in most states (7th and 8th respectively). At higher incomes, the Badger State ranked between 12th and 16th.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report 2013, using 2010 income levels says largely the same thing (http://www.itep.org/pdf/whopaysreport.pdf)
ReplyDeleteThe thing is that Walker has already telegraphed his intention of eliminating the state income tax. This will mean that the revenue will be most likely picked up by sales and excise taxes, which are regressive.
I used the data provided by ITEP and produced a forecast of what Wisconsin's tax structure will look like without a state income tax: http://goo.gl/3eJupc
I used the data in the report and compared states that already have eliminated their income taxes.
The bottom line, those with lower incomes will pick up the slack.