11.1.22. Junjie Guo and Kim J. Ruhl. It is widely believed that sales taxes are regressive: The total sales tax paid by a low-income household represents a greater share of its income compared with a high-income household.
Wisconsin Economy
Wisconsin’s economy: March 2022
3.3.22. Kim Ruhl. By many indicators, the Wisconsin economy has recovered to pre-pandemic levels or beyond, while inflation has run high both in absolute terms and relative to the rest of the United States.
Forecasting the U.S. and Wisconsin Economies in 2022
1.19.22. Junjie Guo and Noah Williams. This paper provides forecasts for the United States and Wisconsin economies in 2022. For each economy, we estimate a mixed-frequency vector auto-regression model using data both before March 2020 and after June 2020, with the extreme observations between March and June 2020 dropped to eliminate their impacts on the model estimates.
Fundamental State Tax Reform: Eliminating the Income Tax in Wisconsin
12.16.21. Noah Williams. The state of Wisconsin has the oldest continuously operating state income tax in the United States. In this report I develop and analyze a plan to dramatically change that history.
The Wisconsin State Sales Tax
11.11.21. Noah Williams. In addition to income taxes, which were discussed in my previous brief, the other main source of general purpose revenue for the state of Wisconsin is the general sales tax.
The Wisconsin State Income Tax
11.4.21. Noah Williams. The state of Wisconsin has the oldest continuously operating state income tax in the United States. In this brief I discuss some of the history and background of the state income tax, as well as the current distribution of taxes and effective tax rates.
Current Private Indicators on the Wisconsin Economy: Small Business Employment and Consumer Spending
7.22.21. Noah Williams. I use two private data sources to analyze the labor market and consumer spending in the state of Wisconsin. I first analyze labor market data from a sample of mostly small businesses. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, by mid-April 2020 48% of these businesses were closed, with employment down 59%.
Labor Markets in the US and Wisconsin: Current State and Long-run Trends
6.25.21. Noah Williams. I survey the current state of labor markets in the United States and the state of Wisconsin. In recent weeks the labor market has become a primary focus of economic and policy discussions, with job openings soaring to record levels while employment gains have slowed.
Middle Income Tax Reform Options for Wisconsin
6.22.21. Junjie Guo and Noah Williams. As an amendment to our initial report on June 17 titled “Middle Income Tax Reform Options for Wisconsin”, we evaluate the potential impacts of cutting the third income tax rate from 6.27% to 5.3%, a proposal approved by the Joint Committee on Finance on the same day.
The (Poor) Performance of the Unemployment Insurance System during COVID-19 in the United States and (Especially) Wisconsin
5.10.21. Noah Williams. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment increased at a rate never before seen in the United States. In response, the federal government expanded unemployment insurance benefits to aid those thrown out of work.