Fiscal Facts

Under state law, Wisconsin farmland is supposed to be assessed for taxation based on the value of what it can produce.

After falling in 2022 to its lowest level in more than a half century, the share of Wisconsinites’ incomes that they paid in state and local taxes effectively held steady last year.

Forum researchers churned out 54 reports and interactive data tools in 2023 that covered a wide variety of timely issues.

The number of states offering income tax credits to families with children has doubled in the last three years, after the federal child tax credit was expanded twice since 2017.

On bills being mailed out this month, gross property taxes in Wisconsin will climb by the largest amount since the Great Recession.

Metro Milwaukee maintains a competitive strength in the educational attainment of its workforce and its concentration of knowledge workers, especially scientists and engineers, which outpaces the nation and many peer metro areas.

Median teacher pay in Wisconsin has fallen on an inflation-adjusted basis over the last decade, with retirements and limited pay increases both playing key roles.

Milwaukee is home to a strong network of service providers assisting its small businesses, but it lacks the kind of coordinated supports and philanthropic engagement that benefit entrepreneurs in other large Midwestern cities.

Since 1998, Wisconsin water utilities have replaced or taken out of service more than 73,000 lead service lines that connect to homes and businesses, reducing a potential public health risk in communities around the state.

As the average American household has become smaller over the last five decades, Wisconsin saw an even sharper decline. And the average household is set to continue getting smaller in the near future.