Budget/Financing, School Climate

Tax Foundation: State & Local Tax Burden Hits All-Time High

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Curtis Dubay [430K PDF]:

State and local taxes will consume a record-
setting 11 percent of the nation’s income in 2007. Since 1986, the state-local tax burden had never fallen below 10 percent or risen
above 10.9 percent. Figure 1 charts the course of the nation’s state-local tax burden since 1982.
This estimate of state-local tax burdens at an all-time high comes at a time when personal and corporate incomes have risen for almost
four consecutive years, sometimes at a remarkable pace. Along with low unemployment, these rising incomes have boosted tax collections substantially and helped most states meet their revenue expectations with ease since 2004.

Wisconsin ranked 6th: Tax Burder as a % of Income = 12.3%; 4,736 / 38,639. Via TaxProf.

One thought on “Tax Foundation: State & Local Tax Burden Hits All-Time High”

  1. I will give you a thought on the Tax issue. I have lived in Texas (no state taxes, low property taxes, high sales taxes) and Alaska (no state tax, no sales tax, low property tax). Alaska is just weird and not really a comparable state as they pay you to live there from oil revenues. But the two compare to Wisconsin in this way; I paid for plowing my STREET no just my driveway, I paid to have someone come pick up my X-mas tree, I hauled my own leaves, I had to have a water well as there was not service to my house (which requires pumping and repair cost, I paid a trash fee, the streets were never cleaned, the poor lived in filth, the schools were segregated based on income and race and in Texas the quality of our local school was very poor. (Lived in wealthier area in AK, so school was good) The services for poor were poor, the services for mentally and physically ill were sad and state parks in Texas are cement squares. Yea, I paid a lot less taxes but not sure it was worth the status of being in the lowest taxed states and I did pay in other ways, just not to the government. I don’t like to throw money away to inefficiently run government agencies, but I see clean streets, great parks, wonderful opportunities for my kids and myself in Madison. The poor and mentally ill are well served. I love Madison and would be willing to pay more to have great schools…..which I believe is attainable, but it takes money!

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