Scott Walker is incapable of telling the truth about taxes and fees.
The Milwaukee County Executive concluded this week that Wisconsin is 12th Most Taxed State is Unacceptable. Walker parroting the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WTA) asserts:
Rankings like these are unacceptable.
Walker makes no mention of where Wisconsin ranks in collecting total taxes and fees for government expenditures.
Wisconsin is low when it comes to imposing fees.
When taxes and fess are combined, Wisconsin ranks in the middle of the pack of the fifty states. That means we are in the middle of the pack when it comes to total government expenditures on a per capita basis.
Taxes are progressive. Fees are regressive. Wisconsin, going back to the days of Bob La Follette, preferred to collect revenues from taxes not fees.
From Waxing America, September 2, 2009: Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance Distorts - What Else Is New?
Is WTA accurate in portraying the burden placed on Wisconsin taxpayers by state government? No. Not by a long shot.
We have been over this. State governments have many revenue sources. They include not only income taxes, but fees, various licenses and other assessments. Some progressive states like Wisconsin rely more heavily on progressive income taxes rather than regressive fees.
When we look at all government revenues on a per capita basis, Wisconsin does not rank near the top, but ranks 17th. Using 2008 revenues and current population data, our state collects $2680 per capita. That puts us as close to 34th ranked Mississippi ($2252) as it does to tenth ranked Delaware ($3360).