Fiscal Facts

With one exception, counties with high concentrations of high-quality providers have small numbers of regulated care options, with 10 providers or fewer.

As of July 2018, nearly three of every four children participating in the Wisconsin Shares program were receiving care from providers rated three stars or higher, meaning the providers met “proficient levels of quality standards” or better.

To encourage providers to improve the quality of their child care, YoungStar uses a “carrot and stick” approach that links Wisconsin Shares payments to provider ratings.

YoungStar is designed to improve child care quality in Wisconsin by evaluating and rating providers and sharing those ratings with parents.

Wisconsin counties can choose to keep additional online sales tax revenue but the state will have to return it in the form of cuts to the state income tax.

Beginning Oct. 1, Wisconsin will start collecting sales taxes on most retailers, namely those who engage in 200 or more transactions with state residents annually or yearly sales of more than $100,000 in Wisconsin.

In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, Wisconsin is expected to apply state and local sales taxes to such transactions beginning Oct. 1.   

Under Wisconsin law, the state tax of 5 percent is applied to the sales of certain goods and services in Wisconsin. In some areas, it is supplemented with a 0.5 percent county sales tax and a 0.1 percent stadium park district tax.

Compared to other states, Wisconsin’s birth rate is relatively low, ranking 38th of the 50 states and 5.6 percent below the national average of 12.2 births per 1,000 people.

Declining birth rates are especially important in Wisconsin given that since the mid-2000s, the state has lost more residents to migration than it has gained.