Celebrating 35 years of advancing freedom in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Losing Ground to Tax-Reforming Peers

By Katherine Loughead

Over the past decade, the state tax landscape has grown increasingly competitive as policymakers have sought to attract investment and promote economic opportunity and growth in their states. The past two years in particular have seen an extraordinary increase in tax reform efforts, given states’ strong revenue growth despite the pandemic and policymakers’ desire to make their states more attractive to an increasingly mobile workforce. 

Most of the focus of these reform efforts has been on reducing state income tax rates, as corporate and individual income taxes are widely regarded by economists as more economically harmful than taxes on consumption and real property. Furthermore, states with low or no income taxes have seen significantly stronger gross state product growth and net inbound migration over the past decade than their higher income tax peers, and high-tax states are increasingly taking notice. 

That’s why, in Wisconsin, comprehensive tax reform that prioritizes gross state product growth and personal income growth ought to be a top priority for policymakers, especially given the recent reforms made by many of Wisconsin’s regional and national peers. 

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Podcast: Wisconsin voters increasingly support school choice 

COVID school shutdowns and controversial curriculum have dramatically increased support for school choice in Wisconsin, according to pollster Wes Anderson, founding partner of OnMessage Inc. Anderson, who has been conducting school choice surveys for nearly 30 years, says support is particularly strong among those who have had exposure to school choice. His latest Wisconsin survey conducted for School Choice Wisconsin found that a solid majority of voters believe parental choice should continue – and expand.  

Listen to the podcast

Viewpoint: Big price, smaller opportunities

By Patrick McIlheran 

June 2, 2022 – As you fill up with gas that as of Thursday averages $4.84 a gallon in metro Milwaukee, remember that the progressive movement in Washington, D.C., long has wanted fuel to be priced as a luxury good.

Credit them, too, with the consequences, all foreseeable.  

This isn’t to say that the Biden administration intentionally caused gas prices to spike.  

But prices that happen to spike are as long welcomed by some American politicians as is rain by a farmer in drought, even if he regrets the erosion. 

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Weekly Survey: Given reforms in other states, does Wisconsin need to overhaul its tax structure? 

Last Week's Results

Policy Brief: Forgiving School Loan Debt

By Scott Niederjohn, Ph.D.

Student debt forgiveness schemes are both inefficient and unfair policies for helping low-income families. First, it is clear that any plan to eliminate student debt across the board would end up benefiting doctors, lawyers and many others who have or are likely to get high-earning jobs and won’t need help paying off their loans.  

Further, because the majority of student debt—both nationally and in Wisconsin—is held by those in the top 40% of the income distribution, such a plan would most benefit the wealthy, contributing further to income and wealth inequality. In addition, debt forgiveness would add to inflationary pressures, as the former debt holders have freed-up money to spend on other uses. 

Debt forgiveness amounts to spending $1 trillion from the federal Treasury exclusively on people who went to—and in most cases graduated from—college. This essentially punishes Americans who didn’t go to college and, because of that fact, are more likely to need government help. 

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Jay Nordlinger, senior editor of National Review and a fellow at the National Review Institute, joins the Badger Institute to keynote a June 15 luncheon in Madison.

A native Midwesterner, Nordlinger will share his thoughts on the issues of the day – from politics to policy, from foreign affairs to freedom – related to the current state and likely future of American journalism. Reserve your seat (audience Q&A will be encouraged!)

This event is co-sponsored by The Badger Institute and the National Review Institute.

Inside the Beltway 

“The projection of the cumulative deficit over the 2022–2031 period is $2.4 trillion more than it was last summer. Newly enacted legislation accounts for most of that increase.” 

Source: CBO Director’s Statement on The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2022 to 2032 

What We're Reading

• Heritage Foundation: Revised Growth Numbers Show Economic Crisis Worse Than Projected 
• Fordham Institute: The core conflict of interest in public education 
• Ben Sasse: How to Really Fix Higher Ed 
• The Hill: Worries about coming ObamaCare premium spikes intensify 
• WDJT: Shortage of public defenders causing delay in criminal cases 

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