Average state income tax in Wisconsin to go down $3 a month under 2023-25 budget

An analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau found the average annual income tax cut under the biennial state budget enacted on July 5 is $36, just under 1% of the average annual bill.

Associated Press

July 7, 2023

Tony Evers sits at a small wood table and uses a pen to sign a document in a folder, with children and adults standing beside and behind him in a room with a row of U.S. and Wisconsin flags, electric wall sconces, paintings, and filigree gilded wall decorations.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed a two-year spending plan into law on July 5, 2023, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison. The budget was authored by Republicans who control the Legislature, but Evers used his partial veto powers to revise portions of it. (Credit: AP Photo / Harm Venhuizen)

By Scott Bauer, AP

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Income taxes in Wisconsin will go down an average of $3 a month under the greatly reduced tax cut Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed into law after rejecting a much larger cut that Republicans wanted, an analysis released on July 7 shows.

The average tax cut under the income tax cut as signed by Evers on July 5 is $36, or just under 1% of the total net tax owed, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Under the GOP plan as passed by the Legislature, taxes would have been cut an average of $573 or just over 15%.

Evers and Democrats said the GOP tax cut benefitted the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

Under the Republican plan, households earning between $60,000 and $70,000 a year — roughly the median in Wisconsin — would have seen a $249 tax cut. Under the law as signed by Evers, their cut will be $44.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he wants to override the veto, but that is highly unlikely to happen because Democrats in the Assembly would have to break ranks to vote with the GOP. Vos has also said Republicans may introduce another tax cut proposal later this year.

Evers vetoed a reduction in rates for individuals earning more than $27,630 and couples filing jointly who make more than $36,840. That left a tax cut only for taxable income up to those levels, or just $175 million out of the original $3.5 billion Republican plan over the next two years.

Those earning between $30,000 and $40,000 will see the largest percentage reduction of 3.4%, or $24 under the tax cut Evers signed. The roughly 7,600 people earning more than $1 million a year will have the smallest percentage cut, at less than 0.1%, worth just $2 a month, or $24.