I hope Governor Doyle and my colleagues in the Legislature are paying attention. Wisconsin has just been blasted with another
negative news bulletin.The rate of growth in Wisconsin income ranks near the bottom when compared to all other states. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that last year, our per-capita personal income grew 4.3 percent. That sounds like good news, but it’s not. The national average of per-capita personal income growth was higher at 5.2 percent. Our income growth ranking puts us in the bottom 10 states.
This report comes on the heels of another dismal study, this one by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance released two weeks ago. Based on figures from the U.S. Census Bureau,
“Wisconsin’s Eroding Household Income," reports that from 1999 to 2005, Wisconsin’s median household income fell 2.2 percent from $45,667 to $44,650, while the national median rose 13.8 percent from $40,696 to $46,326. Wisconsin ranked 50th in the nation in household income growth during the period.
Wisconsinites suffer a double whammy. Incomes aren’t growing as fast here as in other states and in many cases are declining. What Wisconsinites earn on the job depreciates even more due to our state’s exorbitant taxes.
I wrote about this in August of 2006. Spending by state and local governments in Wisconsin takes a huge chunk of your personal income, 21.9 percent.
Governor Doyle has proposed a state budget overflowing with tax and fee increases totaling $1.74- billion. A budget of such monstrous proportion is never appropriate. Given the new disturbing reports on Wisconsin income, this is a time that Wisconsinites can least afford mammoth tax and fee increases.
