Wisconsin Policy Forum: Wisconsin’s State & Local Tax Burden Drop to Another Record Low in 2024

According to a report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum, state and local taxes as a share of income fell again in 2024 hitting a low of 9.62% of personal income. That’s down from 9.92% in 2023, which was also a record low after state and local taxes accounted for 9.9% of personal income in 2022.

Overall, state and local tax revenues increased by 1.9% to $36.9 billion in 2024. That was the smallest annual increase since 2017 and was less than the rate of inflation. Wisconsin state tax revenues grew by 1.6%, one of the smallest increases of the past decade and state taxes alone dropped to their lowest share of personal income since 1970. Meanwhile, net local tax revenues increased 2.7% in the latest year of data driven by increases in net property taxes (2.6%) and county sales taxes (4.4%). Although the growth in personal income in Wisconsin lagged the national average of 5.9%, personal income in Wisconsin did grow over the most recent year by a fairly strong 5.2%.

Since hitting 13.1% in 1994, Wisconsin’s combined state-local tax burden has been on a downward trend. The report noted that since 2000, no other state has seen such a dramatic drop in state and local taxes as a share of income.