MADISON, Wis. — Reporting from WKOW reveals Congressman Tom Tiffany’s plan to eliminate the state income tax, which could nearly triple the sales tax, making it among the highest in the nation while cutting taxes for billionaires and millionaires. The plan could also slash funding for schools, healthcare, and property tax relief.
WKOW: Exclusive audio: Tiffany tells voter he ‘hopes’ to eliminate income tax
By: Caroline Dade
Publicly, Tiffany is campaigning on a 10% tax cut for families that make less than $150,000/year. However, audio obtained by 27 News reveals, when a man at a campaign event in late September asked Tiffany if he would eliminate income tax, Tiffany replied, “I will not be able to do it in the first budget, but, after that, we sure hope to be able to get it done.”
Jason Stein, the president of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, said getting rid of income tax in Wisconsin would be a seismic change because of how much the state’s budget relies on that revenue.
“It’d be extraordinarily difficult to do,” Stein said.
Data from the Department of Revenue shows Wisconsin collected more than $23 billion in general purpose revenue (GPR) in the 2026 fiscal year. Individual income tax accounted for $10.5 billion, and corporate income tax accounted for an additional $3 billion. Combined, those two taxes made up more than 58% of total GPR.
“If you were to eliminate both those sources … you’d really either have to raise other revenues in some way significantly, or you’d have to really reduce spending for every priority that the state’s general fund touches to be able to make that work,” Stein said.
Money from the general fund goes toward areas including K-12 schools, prisons, higher education, healthcare and property tax relief.
If Wisconsin were to eliminate its income tax, it would be joining a group of eight other states: Alaska, Texas, Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, Tennessee, Florida and New Hampshire. However, many of those states are better positioned to operate without income tax revenue. Alaska and Texas are able to rely on revenue from oil and natural gas, while Florida and Nevada each make a lot of money from tourism.
Those avenues would not be as lucrative for Wisconsin, so the state would likely have to turn to another option to make up lost revenue: raising the sales tax.
Right now, Wisconsin’s statewide sales and use tax is 5%. Some counties have additional local sales taxes not exceeding 0.9%, and the city of Milwaukee assesses a 2% sales tax. An analysis from the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy finds the Badger State would need to raise its sales tax to 12.69% in order to be revenue neutral without collecting any income tax.
However, Tiffany has pledged to not raise sales tax at all.
“Then what you’re doing is just significantly reducing the level of of services at the state and local level,” Stein said.
27 News asked Tiffany’s campaign if his goal is to eliminate income tax or if he wants to focus on the 10% cut he’s publicly promoting. We also asked if he wants to get rid of just individual income tax or corporate income tax, too, and what spending he would cut to account for that lost revenue.
In an emailed statement, Tiffany said, “My priorities are to end the 400-year property tax increase, return the nearly $3 billion surplus to the people of Wisconsin, and deliver a 10% income tax cut for working families making $150,000 or less. I plan to get that done in my first budget.”
He continued on to say, after his first two-year budget, “I hope we will be able to deliver additional, long-term tax relief. … I have made a commitment not to raise taxes as governor, and I will keep it.”
Impact of a 10% income tax cut
Even if Tiffany doesn’t move forward with an effort to eliminate Wisconsin’s income tax, his proposed 10% income tax cut for some families would have a large budgetary impact.
Stein said the exact effect would depend on the specifics of Tiffany’s plan, which he has not shared.
“Do you want to lower the marginal rates that are being applied to people’s taxable incomes? Do you want to give them a tax credit? Do you want to increase the standard deduction?” Stein said. “It does matter what those details are because some people are going to do better or worse depending on how you choose to effectuate that.”
No matter the details, Stein said a proposal like Tiffany’s would reduce the revenue the state collects, so there would be less money to spend on a variety of programs.
Wisconsin’s surplus
One potential funding source is Wisconsin’s surplus, which now sits at nearly $3 billion. Tiffany has campaigned on returning that money to taxpayers, while many Democrats have advocated for using it to pay for expanded programs.
Tyler Byrnes, a senior research associate at the Wisconsin Policy Forum, cautioned that emptying out the reserves might not be the best long-term plan.
“Are we on a sustainable trajectory?” he said. “Or are we just sort of spending all the money we have in the bank right now without having the ability to carry that forward beyond the next two-year period?”
Stein said the surplus is an important cushion that can protect the state if the economy suddenly gets worse. Before the Great Recession, Wisconsin’s surplus was in a much worse state than it is today.
“They had to make very painful cuts two budgets in a row, and that caused a lot of pain around the state,” he said.
According to Stein, cuts weren’t enough on their own, and people in Wisconsin also faced tax increases to help the state cover ongoing costs. He said lawmakers should keep that in mind as they chart their economic plans.
“You never get a letter one year in advance from the economy saying, ‘I want to let you know, as the economy, that we’re going to go into recession 12 months from now,'” Stein said. “Even if it’s just a mild recession, that surplus that everyone is campaigning on doing new things with, all of a sudden, you are tapping that just to keep doing what you’re already doing.”
