After newly uncovered audio last week revealed that Congressman Tom Tiffany “hopes” to push a tax scheme that would gut services and drive costs even higher, all to benefit his billionaire donors, a report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel digs deeper into the true cost of his extreme plan.

According to an analysis from the state budget office, Congressman Tiffany’s proposal to eliminate the state income tax entirely would end funding for “schools, Medicaid, universities, aid to local governments, prisons and property tax relief, among other programs.” Without this revenue, the state would be forced to “require substantial cuts or [raise] revenue from other sources, such as the sales tax, or both.”

Congressman Tiffany’s plan is so extreme that it’s been panned by experts across the political spectrum. Even the conservative Badger Institute warned that Tiffany’s scheme could raise the sales tax as high as 12.69 percent, which would leave Wisconsinites footing the bill for the highest sales tax rate in the country. 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tom Tiffany says he’s open to eliminating the state income tax

  • Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany has pledged to pursue a 10% income tax cut as he campaigns for governor and in recent weeks said he is open to going further and eliminating the state’s income tax altogether.
     
  • Individual income taxes generated $10.5 billion in the most recent fiscal year, according to the state budget office. That revenue funds 45.7% of the state’s general fund, which pays for schools, Medicaid, universities, aid to local governments, prisons and property tax relief, among other programs. Including corporate income tax revenue, that percentage grows to nearly 60%.
     
  • Eliminating the funding source would require substantial cuts or raising revenue from other sources, such as the sales tax, or both.
     
  • Brian Pahnke, the state budget director for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration, said, “it would just be very, very difficult to provide the services at the current level of any sort if you didn’t have an income tax in Wisconsin.”
     
  • “It would be incredibly difficult to find a way to do that,” Pahnke said.


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