Twelve Percent
Lasee’s Notes
Once upon a time, there was no such thing as the income tax (no, this isn’t a fairy tale).
Congress enacted the first income tax for several years during and after the Civil War – it was repealed in 1872, and not revisited for a couple of decades. When the idea came up again, opponents tried to at least cap the income tax at a top rate of 10%.
The income tax was enacted without the 10% cap, partly because nobody believed the voters would ever actually let a federal income tax grow to more than a couple of percentage points.
Fast forward to today: we’re paying over 12% of our income in state and local taxes – and that doesn’t include the federal income tax. Or any other federal taxes. Or any fees, assessments, charges, etc. That’s just the state and local taxes.
According to a report by the non-partisan Competitive Wisconsin, Inc., taxes in Wisconsin grew to 12.1% of personal income in 2004, up from 11.9% the year before. That’s one dollar out of every eight earned.
There’s a lot to say about this. For example, personal income in Wisconsin grew 5% in 2004. Taxes grew even faster. Faster than personal income, meaning faster than our ability to pay.
Interesting side note: Wisconsin’s personal income growth ranked 38th nationally. Colorado’s personal income grew 6.5% or 12th nationally. They’re really hurting over there (just listen to the naysayers).
All this makes one wonder: what happened to all the promises, from all those candidates, to bring Wisconsin’s tax burden down?
And don’t forget, this is a measure only of state and local taxes. It doesn’t include federal taxes, or fees, or assessments, or public benefits, or licenses, etc., etc., etc.
The state government alone has increased fees by nearly $500 million in the last two budgets. Local governments are coming up with more fees and assessments – stormwater runoff fees – the Rain Tax – is increasingly popular. How much of our incomes are going to the government once all those are added in?
The report contains other negatives about Wisconsin: fewer than one in four Wisconsin residents has a college degree, and venture capital is invested here at about one-tenth the national rate.
There are also some positives: new private businesses were created at a faster rate than the national average, and exports were higher, as well.
How much higher would these have been, how much more venture capital could we attract, how many more high-income residents would we have, if our tax burden wasn’t outpacing our ability to pay? If Wisconsin were known not as a Tax Hell, but as a great place to do business?
Our elected officials aren’t doing it, so it’s time for a constitutional amendment to protect us taxpayers and our economy from an ever increasing tax burden.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lasee’s Notes is a weekly column by Representative Frank Lasee, 2nd Assembly District, covering events in the Legislature and statewide.
Once upon a time, there was no such thing as the income tax (no, this isn’t a fairy tale).
Congress enacted the first income tax for several years during and after the Civil War – it was repealed in 1872, and not revisited for a couple of decades. When the idea came up again, opponents tried to at least cap the income tax at a top rate of 10%.
The income tax was enacted without the 10% cap, partly because nobody believed the voters would ever actually let a federal income tax grow to more than a couple of percentage points.
Fast forward to today: we’re paying over 12% of our income in state and local taxes – and that doesn’t include the federal income tax. Or any other federal taxes. Or any fees, assessments, charges, etc. That’s just the state and local taxes.
According to a report by the non-partisan Competitive Wisconsin, Inc., taxes in Wisconsin grew to 12.1% of personal income in 2004, up from 11.9% the year before. That’s one dollar out of every eight earned.
There’s a lot to say about this. For example, personal income in Wisconsin grew 5% in 2004. Taxes grew even faster. Faster than personal income, meaning faster than our ability to pay.
Interesting side note: Wisconsin’s personal income growth ranked 38th nationally. Colorado’s personal income grew 6.5% or 12th nationally. They’re really hurting over there (just listen to the naysayers).
All this makes one wonder: what happened to all the promises, from all those candidates, to bring Wisconsin’s tax burden down?
And don’t forget, this is a measure only of state and local taxes. It doesn’t include federal taxes, or fees, or assessments, or public benefits, or licenses, etc., etc., etc.
The state government alone has increased fees by nearly $500 million in the last two budgets. Local governments are coming up with more fees and assessments – stormwater runoff fees – the Rain Tax – is increasingly popular. How much of our incomes are going to the government once all those are added in?
The report contains other negatives about Wisconsin: fewer than one in four Wisconsin residents has a college degree, and venture capital is invested here at about one-tenth the national rate.
There are also some positives: new private businesses were created at a faster rate than the national average, and exports were higher, as well.
How much higher would these have been, how much more venture capital could we attract, how many more high-income residents would we have, if our tax burden wasn’t outpacing our ability to pay? If Wisconsin were known not as a Tax Hell, but as a great place to do business?
Our elected officials aren’t doing it, so it’s time for a constitutional amendment to protect us taxpayers and our economy from an ever increasing tax burden.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lasee’s Notes is a weekly column by Representative Frank Lasee, 2nd Assembly District, covering events in the Legislature and statewide.
posted by John Q Cheesehead | 9:02 AM
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