Republicans Host Tax Press Conference - Photo by Tom Schumacher
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – Rep. Pat Snyder and three other central Wisconsin Republican representatives hosted a press conference on Tuesday morning to address their plan to cut taxes.
Rep. Snyder was joined by Reps. Calvin Callahan, Scott Krug, and Donna Rozar as they laid out their plan to cut taxes for middle-class wage earners and retired taxpayers.
They stated that the goal of the cuts would be to keep retired taxpayers in the state and to help provide financial relief to families struggling from the effects of inflation.
According to a survey by Pew Charitable Trusts, Wisconsin’s middle class has experienced a considerable reduction, with a 14% drop in median household income since 2000. In addition, their data showed that the number of middle-class households decreased from 54.6% to 48.9%.
During the press conference, Rep. Pat Snyder spoke about what the cuts would mean for the average taxpayer, saying that the proposed legislation would increase their expected return by $772 per year and would cut nearly a total of $3 billion in taxes.
While discussing the bill’s details, Rep. Razor spoke of the effect it will have on retired taxpayers, saying, “With this legislation, 98% of our retirees will not have to pay income taxes. We have surrounding states that also have no income tax and have this part of the package, and for retirees that are on fixed incomes, this becomes very important due to inflationary policies that have hurt them as well as the middle class.”
The proposed bill would center on filers in the third tax bracket, who would see a decrease in their tax rate from 5.3% to 4.4%. Razor continued by saying that she hears from retired Wisconsinites regularly who have moved to or lived in an income-tax-free state like Florida part-time to save money on taxes.
States that currently do not charge income tax include Alaska, Florida, Tennessee, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, and Washington. Wisconsin did see a 4% population increase between 2010 and 2020, but rural counties across the state such as Price, Iron, and Menominee saw population decreases as high as 10%. From 2010 to 2019, Wisconsin also saw 73,000 fewer kids living in the state, partially due to Wisconsin having its lowest rate of births since 1973.
Forward Analytics recently completed a study that concluded that Wisconsin will begin seeing large population decreases by 2026 due to an inability to keep young workers in the state. The study found that Wisconsin will lose around 130,000 young workers by 2030.
Rep. Snyder and Rep. Callahan stated that bills like this that help fix the state’s tax structure and make it more competitive with surrounding states could help improve those population issues.
The bill will be heard at the state’s Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday and is on track to be voted on in September.
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