Fiscal Facts

Wisconsin’s state and local tax burden fell again in 2022 to its lowest level on record, due to a $1 billion-a-year income tax cut, tight limits on property taxes, and strong growth in residents’ incomes.

Less than half of graduates from public high schools in Milwaukee are enrolling in college immediately after high school, and only one-third of college students in the region are graduating within the expected time frame.

Metro Milwaukee’s concentration of workers employed in STEM occupations is a competitive strength, but it lags peer metros on other metrics including productivity, household income, exports, and venture capital funding.

For decades, programs that offer public dollars to businesses as incentives to create jobs have played a prominent role in state and local economic development strategies.

Despite measures in the current state budget to lower property tax levies for K-12 schools, those levies are rising modestly yet again on December bills – clear evidence of the impact of school district referenda approved by voters.

The upcoming state budget cycle starting in July is on track to continue a recent trend of ever-larger state budget surpluses, creating an unprecedented opportunity to boost government services with additional spending, reduce taxes, or both.

Local government debt in Wisconsin hit record levels in 2020, driven by low-interest rates, infrastructure needs, and a little-known incentive in state law.

In the last decade, school referenda have become a fixture on ballots around Wisconsin.

The proposed 2023 city of Madison budget offers mostly good news for city services, with few cuts and a range of new offerings.

Federal pandemic relief funds give a temporary reprieve to a mounting array of fiscal woes for the city of Milwaukee, helping it avert large-scale service reductions in Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s proposal for the 2023 budget.