Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Tuesday lawmakers are in negotiations with Gov. Tony Evers on a bill package to provide property tax relief before the end of the legislative session. 

Vos made the comments ahead of an Assembly floor session during which lawmakers passed a bill to provide long-term financial support to WisconsinEye, the state’s version of C-Span. Vos said the state Senate may have its own bill in the works.

Vos said that lawmakers have been discussing a property tax-reduction package for weeks, and had intended to announce it last week, but delayed due to discussions with Evers. Republicans want to  tap into Wisconsin’s budget surplus, estimated at over $2 billion, to fund a property tax relief package. 

“We have been trying to negotiate with Gov. Evers to have a bipartisan package that can get through both chambers, hopefully, and to his desk,” Vos said. “The goal would be to try to return a sizable chunk of the surplus back to Wisconsinites to help deal with rising property taxes.” 

Property tax bills jumped significantly in December, fueled by a state budget that increases  school revenue limits while keeping state general aid flat — pushing education costs onto local taxpayers — as well as voter approval of school district referendum requests. Further property tax hikes are expected in coming years without action from policymakers.

Republicans, angry about a line-item veto by Evers in the last budget, refused to give any state aid to schools in the current two-year budget.  Evers’ partial veto extended a $325 per-pupil increase in revenue-raising authority granted to school districts in the last two-year budget cycle for the next 400 years. Without state funding to backfill the revenue limit increases, school districts only had the option to raise property taxes or to forgo additional revenue. Vos had earlier said he wanted to see a repeal of Evers’ partial veto in any property tax package, but he backed off that demand Tuesday.

“Certainly want to see if we can have reforms in there, but the most important thing for us is to get relief, so some of the politics might have to wait until the election cycle,” Vos said. 

There is an open race for the governor’s office and control of the state Legislature is up for grabs in November. Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany is seeking to make property taxes a major point of his campaign — promising to freeze property taxes and repeal Evers’ partial veto if he is elected.

WisPolitics reports that Evers is proposing a $1.3 billion package that would pair school funding with tax relief, according to  emails from Zach Madden, Evers’ legislative affairs director, to Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) the news outlet obtained. 

According to WisPolitics, the deal put forth by Evers would include $200 million towards special education funding and $450 million for general aid to schools in 2027 to lower the amount of revenue that districts would raise through property taxes. Evers would in exchange support providing $550 million toward the School Levy Tax Credit and $97.3 million in 2027 to exempt taxes on cash tips.

Assembly passes bill to create endowment for WisconsinEye

The Assembly passed a bill Tuesday to provide a long-term funding solution for WisconsinEye, the nonprofit organization that livestreams and archives government proceedings, but the bill likely faces difficulty in the Senate.

AB 974 would eliminate the match requirement on $10 million, which was initially set aside for WisconsinEye in the state budget, and place it in an endowment fund to help provide a stable form of income to the organization. WisconsinEye would receive the interest from the endowment for its operations, though the revenue is not expected to cover all of its costs so the nonprofit would still need to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. 

Lawmakers have been working on a way to support the organization after it said it was dealing with fundraising difficulties and had to shut down its coverage. WisconsinEye resumed its coverage on Feb. 2 after over a month offline after the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization approved $50,000 for it to do so. 

“They need around $50,000 a month to be able to continue operations as they work toward their long-term goal of having a partnership with the state and through their private fundraising,” Vos said. “I think the goal would be that the Legislature and the executive branch hopefully will be able to provide a longer term contract to at least get us through the balance of this year.”

The bill would require WisconsinEye to focus its coverage primarily on official state government meetings and business, provide free online public access to its live broadcasts and archives as well as submit an annual financial report to the Legislature. It would also require WisconsinEye to add additional members to its board of directors.

The bill states that if WisconsinEye ceases operations and divests its assets, then it must pay back the grants and transfer its archives to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

An amendment to the bill will require WisconsinEye to open all meetings of its board of directors to the public, broadcast those meetings and archive them and stipulates that the state will own all video cameras, audio equipment, connecting cables and wireless transmission equipment that is operated or maintained by WisconsinEye in the Capitol.

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine), the lead coauthor on the bill, said she is glad WisconsinEye is back online.

“Without it, however briefly, the Legislature was less transparent and accessible to all of our constituents,” Neubauer said. “Thankfully, we’re here to fix this issue today… I certainly hope that this bipartisanship will continue with the Senate, and they will pass this bill so that we can ensure that WisconsinEye has a path to long-term sustainability.”

The bill passed 96-0 in the Assembly.

Vos said that lawmakers have had “brief discussions” with the Senate, but he believes that Senate Republicans are working on their own bill related to WisconsinEye. 

LeMahieu’s office has not responded to a request for comment from the Examiner.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Changes to federal and state income tax policies could make service industry careers easier to sustain.

The post Wisconsin service industry workers see benefits of federal ‘no tax on tips’ policy appeared first on WPR.

Gov. Tony Evers said he is focusing on what can be accomplished in the final year of his term rather than what he and his wife may do once he retires from office. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Gov. Tony Evers, who is entering his final year in office, is calling on lawmakers to help him accomplish some of his priorities in 2026 including providing property tax relief and taking action to blunt the effect of cost-shifting from the federal government to states by the Trump administration.

Evers decided to not run for a third term last year, leading to the first open race for governor since 2010. During a press briefing Monday, he told reporters “nope” when asked if he had thoughts on who in the crowded Democratic primary field could best build on his work.

While he wouldn’t comment on the field, Evers said that working on affordability in Wisconsin would be one of his top priorities — and likely one of the top issues in the 2026 campaign cycle. 

Evers said he is focusing on what can be accomplished in the final year of his term rather than what he and his wife may do once he retires from office. 

“We’ve worked hard for seven years and… we have a year left and it’s not all about me. All of the things that need to be addressed, many of them can be. I feel very strongly that legacy is just doing the right thing for the people of Wisconsin,” Evers said, adding he wants to leave Wisconsin in “a better place.” 

The Wisconsin Legislature has work days scheduled through March, though Evers said work may need to go into April to get the state’s business accomplished. He said lawmakers could run for office and work at the same time. 

“I think it will help no matter who is running for reelection, both the Republicans and Democrats, actually spending some time not getting out of town as early as possible and let’s do some things for the people of Wisconsin,” Evers said. “It’s bad politics to say we’re done in February, we’re done in March and we’ll see you at the polls.” 

Evers said 2026 is starting after a year of “historic and bipartisan wins” for Wisconsinites. He highlighted actions taken in the state budget including providing state funding directly to child care centers, increasing school funding and investing in the University of Wisconsin system, and said he wants to build on that work in the rest of his term. “Our budget was a win for Wisconsin kids, families and our state’s future, but there’s no denying the final budget looked different from what I proposed,” he said. 

Evers noted that the state ended the fiscal year with nearly $4 billion in reserves and $2 billion in a rainy day fund. He said projections from the Department of Revenue that will be released soon show that the state could also bring in as much as $1 billion more than this year. 

Tax relief, school funding

Evers said one of his top priorities is taking action to soften the impact of property tax increases. He called on lawmakers, again, to pass a slate of policies he has proposed that could result in $1.3 billion in tax relief. 

Wisconsin taxpayers’ December bills included the highest increase since 2018 — the result, in part, of Evers’ controversial 400-year line-item veto, which extended a two-year increase in the amount of money districts can raise from local property taxpayers for centuries into the future, as well as lawmakers’ decision to not provide additional state aid to schools, pushing many districts to use their additional taxing authority and others to go to referendum, asking local residents to pay more.

“Look, I get it: Republicans love to blame my 400-year veto for property taxes going up,” Evers said. “The problem with that is Wiscosinites were going to referendum before increasing the number of years — long before. The question would be why? Because of a decade of Republicans consistently failing to meaningfully invest in our kids and K-12 schools. That has consequences including forcing Wisconsinites to raise their own property taxes.” 

Evers said that he wasn’t saying relief needs to be accomplished in one particular way, but that the state will be in a “world of hurt” if nothing is done about property taxes.

Proposals on the issue that he has suggested include a state program to encourage local governments to freeze property taxes, increasing state aid to public schools to help reduce tax levies and increasing the school levy tax credit. 

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) has also named lowering property taxes as one of his top priorities for the year, though he and other Republicans have focused on the school revenue limit increases that are in place due to the partial veto Evers issued on the 2023 state budget. Evers brushed off the criticism, saying school districts were seeking property tax increases through referendum way before his veto.

“Before that 400-year veto, we were going to referendum all the time, so they can use that as an excuse if they want but let’s just get this done,” Evers said. 

Vos rejected the suggestion in a statement Tuesday morning, saying  that Evers was asking lawmakers to “backfill his mistake.”

“We will pass a repeal of his 400-year veto and we ask him to urge Democrats in the legislature to join that effort,” Vos said. “Recent property tax increases fall primarily on his shoulders and unless he’s willing to fix that, taxpayers in Wisconsin will be driven out of their homes due to these unaffordable increases.”

Evers also called on lawmakers to provide additional funding for special education. He and lawmakers put funding in the budget they calculated would bring the state’s share of special ed costs to 42% of districts’ expenses in the first year of the budget and 45% in the second year, but the Department of Public Instruction has issued revised numbers showing that the funding allocated in the budget likely won’t be enough to meet those rates.

“This has to be fixed before the Legislature goes home this year. I’m calling on the Legislature to invest the necessary funding to ensure the agreed upon percentages… are met — or better yet, make the appropriation sum sufficient,” Evers said. Sum-sufficient appropriations are not fixed amounts of money but cover costs for programs even if they fluctuate.

Evers also said lawmakers should take action to exclude certain items including diapers, toothpaste and over-the-counter medications from the state’s sales tax. 

Evers said he is also open to looking at Republican proposals to eliminate taxes on overtime and tips but wants to consider more “universal” forms of tax relief. Republican lawmakers have been working to advance proposals that would align state tax policies with the new federal policies that were adopted last year.

Dealing with the Trump administration  

In his letter to lawmakers, Evers told them they may need to take action to blunt the effects of Trump administration policies. 

“With more chaos being created every day in Washington, new challenges continue to emerge and evolve that deserve our immediate focus and attention,” Evers wrote to lawmakers. “This includes responding to President Donald Trump’s and Republicans in Congress’ ongoing efforts to shift hundreds of millions of dollars in federal program costs to Wisconsin taxpayers and our state’s future budgets.” 

A recent change to federal law means that the state could be at risk of losing more than $200 million annually in federal funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program if the benefit payment error rate climbs above a certain level.

Evers told reporters that he is in conversations with lawmakers about a potential investment to ensure that the error rate for the state’s Foodshare program remains low. The state Department of Health Services has said that $69 million would help implement quality-control measures and cover the cuts the federal government has made to administrative costs.

The Trump administration has also recently frozen funds to five Democratic-run states, including Minnesota, due to child care fraud while also increasing reporting requirements for states receiving child care funds to cover services for low-income kids. 

Evers said Wisconsin, not one of the five, is in a good position to ensure accountability in the system as the state already made significant changes after a fraud scandal like Minnesota’s was uncovered in Wisconsin more than 15 years ago.

A 2009 Pulitzer prize-winning investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel uncovered significant fraud within the state’s WisconsinShares program that led to criminal indictments and prompted the state to implement protections. 

“We’re making sure we’re doing everything and we are in a good place,” Evers said. “There’s lots of auditing going on… so I think we’re in a great place.”

ICE shooting in Minneapolis

Evers told reporters that it is a “huge mistake” by President Donald Trump to exclude Minnesota from the investigation into the death of Renee Good at the hands of an ICE agent last week.

“Should the people of Minnesota or Minneapolis be a part of that investigation? Hell yes,” Evers said. “When the federal government comes in and talks about things in terms of you’re going to do this or that… you want to be part of the conversation and there’s none of that going on.” 

Evers said in response to a question about whether ICE was welcome in Wisconsin, “We can handle ourselves, frankly. I don’t see the need for the federal government to be coming into our state and making decisions that we can make at the state level.” 

However, Evers stopped short of endorsing a proposal from Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez that would bar ICE from certain areas.

Rodriguez, who is running in the Democratic primary for governor, proposed on Monday that the state ban ICE from courthouses, hospitals and health clinics, licensed child-care centers and daycares, schools and institutions of higher education, domestic violence shelters and places of worship unless there is a warrant or an imminent threat to public safety.

Evers said when asked about the proposal that he would look at it, but that “banning things will absolutely ramp up the actions of the folks in Washington D.C.”

Evers on what else might get accomplished in 2026

Evers said he is “confident” there will soon be a proposal to release $125 million in state funds to fight PFAS contamination that members from both sides of the aisle can support. He said his administration has spent the last several months in conversation with Republican lawmakers on the issue to try to reach a compromise.

Evers said that he hopes they will be able to do the same for the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program, which is set to expire this year. 

Evers said he is open to exploring options for getting WisconsinEye, the nonprofit that provided livestream coverage of state government similar to C-Span until it went dark last month, back online, but said he isn’t supportive of just giving the nonprofit state funds without a match requirement.

WisEye  went offline  Dec. 15 due to financial difficulties. There is $10 million in state funding for the organization that was set aside by lawmakers and Evers for an endowment, but the organization has to raise matching funds to access it.

“I think there has to be some skin in the game,” Evers said of WisEye. 

The organization launched a GoFundMe on Monday to help raise $250,000, which would cover its expenses for three months. By the end of the day, the organization had raised more than  $4,000.

Evers also called on lawmakers to pass legislation that would extend Medicaid coverage for new mothers from 60 days to a year. Vos has opposed the bill and stopped it from receiving a vote in the Assembly, even as it passed the Senate with only one opposing vote and has more than 70 Assembly cosponsors.

“I’m hoping 2026 will be the year that the Speaker finally decides that bill will make it to my desk,” Evers said.

Evers also outlined his hopes that lawmakers will take action to help lower the cost of health care and prescription drug prices including by capping the price of insulin at $35, passing legislation to audit insurance companies when their denial rates are high and creating new standards to increase the number of services health insurance companies must cover. 

Evers also called on lawmakers to provide funding for two sites that closed last year, one in Green Bay and the other in Chippewa Falls, that housed homeless veterans. He said ideally the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program would receive the nearly $2 million  as he proposed last year.  

Evers said he hadn’t seen the GOP-authored bills that passed the Assembly unanimously that would create a new state grant program that would go to organizations that serve homeless veterans. 

“Whatever we can do to solve that issue,” Evers said. “Any of the things I’ve talked about today, if something happens individually, great. We have to get that done, so if they come up with a plan that I feel confident it’s going to work… then I’d sign it.”

Update: This story was updated Tuesday Jan. 13 to include a statement from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. 

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) said she hopes her "fellow assemblymen continue to put pressure on their leadership" to pass postpartum Medicaid expansion. Felzkowski spoke at a Republican press conference about postpartum Medicaid expansion in April. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) said in a year-end interview with the Wisconsin Examiner that the year has been one of “very steady growth” and top priorities for her in the remaining legislative session include passing legislation to help bring down the cost of health care, advancing medical cannabis legislation and passing additional tax cuts. 

Felzkowski pointed to the state budget in which lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers increased funding for roads and transportation costs, cut taxes including for retirees, increased special education funding and dedicated funding to mental health initiatives. She was one of four Senate Republicans to vote against the state budget, a vote she said she took because of her opposition to increasing the state’s hospital assessment without health care reforms. 

A slimmed down, 18-member Republican majority in the Senate this session and several GOP senators who took a stand against a compromise budget deal gave Senate Democrats an opening to come to the budget negotiating table, and to win compromises on school funding as well as stop cuts to the University of Wisconsin system.

Felzkowski said the slimmer margins this year have been normal. 

“If you look back for the last 30 years, when the Republicans are in control, we are normally at 18-15 margin in the Senate,” Felzkowski said. “When we were up to like 22, that was kind of a gift, so we are a very strong Republican majority right now.”

Felzskowski said working on health care affordability will be her top priority when lawmakers return in January. This includes working on health care price transparency and working to advance her legislation that would make changes to the regulation of pharmacy benefit managers — third-party companies that manage prescription drug benefits between health plans, employers and government programs.

Health care and prescription drugs

Felzkowski’s bill would allow patients to use any licensed pharmacy in the state without facing penalties and require benefit managers to pay pharmacy claims within 30 days. 

“Our neighbors to the south in Illinois just passed their version of PBM reform,” Felzkowski said, adding that her bill has passed out of committee and lawmakers are now discussing whether it will receive a full Senate vote. 

Felzkowski’s health care price transparency legislation would require hospitals to make publicly available to consumers the standard costs of “shoppable services,” which would be defined as those that can be scheduled in advance such as x-rays, MRIs and knee replacements. 

“What is one thing that you buy that you have no idea what it’s going to cost? It’s health care. That’s absolutely ridiculous,” Felzkowski said. “Other states have passed it. They’re starting to see the fruition of it and it does work. There’s a reason we have the fifth highest health care costs. It’s because our Legislature has not done anything to help bring those costs down and it’s time that we actually start doing that.” 

Felzkowski, who has been a longtime advocate for legalizing medical cannabis, said the Senate is “closer than ever” to having a vote on the floor on a proposal to do so, but she believes the chances of the Assembly advancing legislation remain “slim.”

Felzskowski said she hopes legislation to extend Medicaid coverage for postpartum women from 60 days after giving birth to one year isn’t dead this session. Wisconsin is one of two states in the U.S. that haven’t accepted the federal extension.

“I hope that my fellow assemblymen continue to put pressure on their leadership… Deep red states, blue states as well as purple states across the nation have postpartum care for 12 months and they’ve done it because it’s the return on investments for taxpayers as well as being the right thing to do,” Felzskowski said. “We see baby thrive, we see mom thrive, and it actually lowers the cost down the road.”

Fate of WisconsinEye

Felzkowski said Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos are having discussions about solutions to the shutdown of WisconsinEye, the nonprofit service that provides video coverage of legislative hearings, floor sessions and Wisconsin state government business. WisconsinEye halted its livestream and pulled down its video archive last week due to a lack of funding.

“Even if we do something temporary to get us through a session… just get through until April and then do a really deep dive on what should be the next step,” Felzkowski said, adding that that includes looking at how other states cover their state government.

“The transparency is important,” she said, adding they want to ensure people still have access to government proceedings and a record is still being kept of it all.

Felzkowski said she hopes Republicans can get one more tax cut done before the end of the legislative session next year. 

New tax cuts in the works

A few of the ideas legislators are considering include eliminating taxes on tips and overtime. 

“Anytime we can return money to our citizens is a good thing,” Felzkowski said, adding that state Republicans would like to align Wisconsin tax cuts with federal policy. The federal megabill approved in July included a tax deduction on tips and overtime that will be available from 2025 through 2028.

This December, Wisconsin residents are experiencing the highest property tax hikes since 2018, according to a recent Wisconsin Policy Forum report. The report explained that state budget decisions including Evers’ veto that allows school districts an annual $325 per pupil increase for the next 400 years as well as lawmakers’ decision to not provide any increase to state general aid this year have led to the hikes. 

Asked whether lawmakers will look to solutions for lowering property taxes, Felzkowski said it would take a new governor. 

“We have given [Evers] numerous chances to reverse that 400-year veto and he keeps vetoing the bill, so it’s on the governor’s plate right now,” Felzkowski said. “Until we get a different governor in the East Wing and we can start seriously addressing education and all the things that are wrong with it, I don’t know what to say.” 

Felzkowski said that even with the state budget surplus there wasn’t enough state money for the general aid increase.

“There were a lot of mouths to feed on that budget,” Felzkowski said. “With increasing revenues all over, there was not enough money out there to backfill that $325… We would have had to have raised taxes dramatically to do that. The dollars didn’t exist.”

Felzkowski said on education that she hopes Wisconsin will opt into the new federal education tax credit program. The program would provide a dollar-to-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 to people who donate to a qualifying “scholarship granting program” to support taxpayer-financed private-school vouchers. Evers would need to opt the state into the program by Jan. 1, 2027, but so far has said he won’t. 

Confident GOP will hold Senate in 2026 

Wisconsin Republicans have held control of the state Assembly and Senate since 2010, and next year will test the strength of that majority when the state’s 17 odd-numbered Senate seats will be up for election for the first time under new legislative maps adopted in 2024. 

Last year when the maps were in place for the 16 even-numbered seats, Democrats were able to flip four seats. In 2026, Republicans will need to make sure Democrats cannot flip two additional Senate seats to hold control of the body.

Felzkowski expressed confidence that they will do so. 

“We will come back with a strong Republican majority. We have better policies, we have better ideas and we run great candidates,” Felzkowski said.

There will be several key, competitive districts in 2026 including Senate District 5, which is currently held by Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield), Senate District 17, which is currently held by Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) and Senate District 31, currently represented by incumbent Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) who will face a challenge from Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp). 

“We’re going to run on the same policies we’ve always run on: lower taxes, strong freedoms, strong economies, strong education and government getting out of your way so that you can live the American dream,” Felzkowski said. “The Democrats are going to run on an anti-Donald Trump policy, more government, more influence in your life. It’s all they’ve ever run for.”

Some Democrats have taken election results in 2025 as a sign that people are unhappy with the Trump administration and are ready to elect Democrats. 

Felzkowski said she didn’t think that 2025 election results in other states were going to be applicable in Wisconsin, though she said the new maps could be challenging for Republican candidates. 

“Wisconsin is kind of a unique state. We’re a very purple state,” Felzkowski said. “We knew those candidates in Virginia were going to win, I mean, it’s a blue state so I mean you can’t really base us on what happened in Virginia and New Jersey… We’re going to be running in Democratic-gerrymandered seats, so we’re going to have to work very hard, but we will win.”

Wisconsin also has an open race for governor on the ballot next year. U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is considered the frontrunner in the GOP primary, and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, are the current Republican hopefuls.

Felzkowski said she probably won’t endorse in the Republican primary for governor, but she is looking for a candidate who is a “conservative reformer who’s willing to take on the tough issues from health care, education, and corrections, lowering taxes” as well as someone who will do “a deep dive into our agencies,” adding that she hopes they’ll work to root out “waste, fraud and abuse.” 

The Democratic field of candidates is much larger including Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, state Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), Milwaukee County Exec. David Crowley, former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan and former state Rep. Brett Hulsey.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Edith Butler is dealing with a real-world math problem: Her housing costs keep rising while a tax credit intended to help keeps shrinking. 

The widow and retired nurse, 68, lives by herself in a two-bedroom Eau Claire home. She paid $9,000 in rent over the course of last year, eating up more than 60% of her Social Security paycheck — her primary source of income. Her utility costs are also expected to hike next year.

She received $708 last year from claiming a homestead tax credit, which is meant to help lower-income homeowners and renters recoup some property tax costs. That was down from the $900 credit she received five years ago after paying just $6,600 in rent. 

In the past, the homestead credit has paid to fill her propane tank for about three months during winter and offset some other costs. But it’s dwindling each year because the state rarely updates eligibility guidelines and credit calculations for inflation. Butler’s credit shrinks whenever the federal government increases her Social Security payment to account for the rising costs of living. 

She’s not alone. Statewide homestead credit claims dropped from an average of $523 per recipient in 2013 to $486 in 2025, with thousands fewer claimants as fewer people remained eligible.

“These things have never adjusted. But we’ve paid into these programs all our lives. I paid taxes for 50 years, (and) my Social Security is my benefit that I paid in,” Butler said. “You work hard and you pay into programs, and then when you need them in your older years like this, they’re not there for you.”

The Legislature has not substantially updated the homestead credit for 25 years, causing its value to erode. Recent Democratic proposals to update program guidelines have failed to gain Republican support.  

A tax credit’s history

By the 1960s, many in Wisconsin acknowledged the regressive nature of property taxes — that lower-income residents pay higher shares of their income than richer households do,  John Stark, then-Assistant Chief Counsel in the Legislative Reference Bureau, wrote in a 1991 history of property tax relief in Wisconsin. But the state Constitution’s “uniformity clause” restricted what type of tax relief lawmakers can enact. 

Against that backdrop, a State Commission on Aging in 1962 held hearings around the state in which older adults expressed concerns about health care and property taxes. The Legislature responded in 1963 with the homestead credit. Residents 65 and older could claim up to $225 (the equivalent of $2,380 today), with the precise calculation based on income, property taxes paid through ownership or rent.

The Legislature expanded eligibility over the years, notably in 1973, when it lowered the age minimum to 18. That dramatically boosted total claimants and payouts. By 1988, more than 250,000 people received a collective $100 million (roughly $270 million today) in credits.

The trend has since reversed. 

Fewer than 67,000 residents claimed a collective $32.6 million in credits last year — a precipitous plunge, Department of Revenue data show.

The program’s income cap today — $24,680 — has barely budged since 2000. The nearly identical cap of $24,500 in 2000 is the equivalent of $45,812 today when adjusted for inflation.

Meanwhile, the program’s “phaseout income” of $8,060, under which homeowners or renters can recoup the maximum 80% of property taxes paid, has increased by only $60 since the 1989 tax year.

Today’s maximum credit a household can claim ($1,168) is just $8 higher than the 1990 level.

Diane Hanson, Butler’s tax agent, said her clients are receiving smaller credits each year or becoming ineligible as inflation pushes wages or Social Security payments above the static income limit. 

Still, Hanson suspects many who remain eligible don’t realize it.

The homestead credit helped Hanson through her most challenging times. After learning about it at her local library, she claimed the credit for several years while raising her two children during a divorce, one of them with disabilities. 

After becoming a tax agent in 2019, she began to educate clients facing similar circumstances. They include Renata Braatz, who raises her 12-year-old son and spends about 30% of her monthly income on rent through the Section 8 voucher program. She claimed about $600 through the homestead program last year. She spent it on groceries and other expenses for her son.

“I never knew about it. I lived here for six years, and I just started doing it two years ago,” Braatz said. 

But asking questions paid off. 

“Renata was proactive, reaching out, phoning us, and asking if there could be any credits for her. I think that is more than some folks know to do,” Hanson said. “Before I was a tax professional, I myself didn’t know how much the federal earned income credit can help out parents.”

Democrats call for credit’s expansion 

Senate and Assembly Democrats earlier this year introduced identical bills to expand the homestead credit — allowing households earning up to $35,000 to claim it and indexing the maximum annual income, phaseout income and maximum credit to inflation. The proposal would have reduced state revenue by an estimated $36.7 million, $43 million and $48.8 million over the next three fiscal years.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers also proposed a homestead credit expansion in his last two-year budget. 

Neither  proposal advanced in the Republican-controlled Legislature. 

Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, authored the Senate version of the bill with colleagues. His district borders Illinois, which offers a range of more generous homestead tax incentives. Several constituents who previously lived in Illinois asked him why Wisconsin doesn’t offer what Illinois does, inspiring the legislation.

The Wisconsin Constitution’s uniformity clause prohibits lawmakers from enacting Illinois-like tax exemptions for older adults or other low-income residents, Spreitzer said, but the credit offers a legal work-around.

“There’s not really another credit that takes the place of this,” he said. “That’s why the homestead credit is so important.”

Spreitzer said he plans to reintroduce an expansion bill, and he encourages residents to share their perspectives with their representatives.

“If we want to do something about affordability, this is a very direct thing we can do,” Spreitzer said. “We’re not creating a new credit here. This already exists. We’re just talking about increasing who qualifies and how much money they would get back, and that’s money that they would directly be able to get back on their taxes and then spend to put food on the plate for their families.”

Hanson sees a path for bipartisan support for an update. 

“The alternative is to see it dwindle,” Hanson said. “It hurts the segment of people that actually need it, the people who just don’t get much help anywhere. They’re still working hard to be independent.”

As living costs soar, tax relief shrinks for low-income Wisconsin residents is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Wisconsin municipalities and school districts, which rely on taxpayer dollars to fund their services, are running into rising frustration from the residents who pay those costs.

The frustration comes as more local governments are turning to wheel taxes to fund transportation-related services as costs of construction materials rise and local leaders say the Legislature over the years has constrained ways municipalities can raise additional revenues. Nearly half of Wisconsin residents are paying a wheel tax in 2025, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum. 

The number of Wisconsin school districts turning to taxpayers to support referendums has also grown in recent years with the state seeing more than 200 ballot questions in 2024, 148 of which were operating referendums. Ninety-four districts sought referendums in elections this year, the most in an odd-numbered election year since 2007, the Policy Forum noted earlier this year. 

But Wisconsin taxpayers’ support for funding revenue needs of local governments and school districts appears to be waning as residents grapple with their own rising costs from energy bills to health care payments.

The Marquette University Law School Poll conducted in October showed 56% of voters found lowering property taxes to be more important than funding public education, a number that has gradually grown in the last two years. Between 2015 and 2022 more voters supported funding public schools over lowering property taxes. Additionally, 57% of Wisconsin voters in October said they would be more likely to vote against a school referendum when, just four months earlier, 52% of voters said they would support one. 

The public discontent with government taxes and fees aligns with a longtime Republican strategy to reduce the size and reach of government. Similar frustration with the role of government in the wake of the Great Recession swept Republicans into power in Wisconsin in 2010, and they’ve kept control of the Legislature since then.

Heading into the next cycle, Republican lawmakers are promoting bills that seek to limit when taxpayers can be asked for more funding.

One bill from Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, would require referendums for local governments that want to establish a wheel tax and mandate the municipalities and counties with existing wheel taxes to go to referendum to keep their fees in place. Hutton, who is up for reelection in 2026, holds perhaps the most vulnerable of three Republican Senate seats that Democrats are targeting in elections next year. 

A resident brought the idea for the wheel tax bill to Hutton’s office as New Berlin and Elm Grove considered implementing their own vehicle registration fees earlier this year, his chief of staff said in an email to Wisconsin Watch. The New Berlin Common Council officially rejected the option to pursue a wheel tax in July. 

“Some may argue that these are not make or break amounts of money, and that certainly may be the case,” Hutton said during an October hearing on the Assembly companion to his bill. “But every cost adds up to many citizens in these communities, especially those families who are living paycheck to paycheck.” 

Hutton’s bill is scheduled for a public hearing Wednesday, just a week after the Eau Claire City Council voted to raise the city’s wheel tax from $24 to $50. Eau Claire residents will pay $80 between city and county fees with the new increase, which is currently higher than Milwaukee where city residents pay $60 in wheel taxes split between the city and county. 

The vehicle registration fee increase will give the city of Eau Claire an additional $1.2 million, which the city’s finance director told councilors was necessary for a balanced budget without making other cuts. 

“If we didn’t have the wheel tax available, we would have to make very significant cuts,” Stephanie Hirsch, Eau Claire’s city manager, told Wisconsin Watch. “We can’t really touch our public safety departments because of state laws that require us to maintain spending and service maintenance of effort laws, so it would be coming from those public works functions or the other nonmandated services that we provide like operating a very popular outdoor pool or maintaining parks.” 

But Eau Claire residents opposed to the proposal said it was wrong to approve a wheel tax increase as costs are rising for food, health care, energy and more. 

“Another fee increase, especially on something as basic as the ability to drive to work, drive to school or appointments, should be completely off the table right now,” said Elizabeth Willier, who told the council she organized resident petitions against doubling the wheel tax through conservative group Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin.

Growing tax frustration

Citizen anger against government taxes isn’t new. But it seems that taxpayers in Wisconsin have especially become more engaged in government in the years since the coronavirus pandemic, said Paul Rozeski, the director of government and member relations with Wisconsin Property Taxpayers, Inc. 

More people want answers about where their money is going, he said. 

“We have a lot of small business members, and for them, it’s death by 1,000 paper cuts,” Rozeski said. “Clearly, more and more taxpayers are feeling the same way.” 

That public sentiment on referendums increased as 71% of Wisconsin’s school districts learned in October they will receive less general aid for the 2025-26 school year than they did the prior year. State general education aid funding was kept flat in the biennial budget earlier this year.

It could lead districts to make budget cuts, raise property taxes or even turn to voters with referendums to make up those funding gaps. 

“I think that’s not going to slow down,” Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick, said last month of school district referendums. “I think we’re going to see even more, sadly.” 

Under current law Wisconsin school districts will receive a $325 per pupil increase each year in how much revenues they can raise from a combination of state aid and property taxes for the next 400 years due to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ creative veto in 2023.

It’s not clear yet how many school districts might seek referendums in 2026. State law gives districts up to 70 days before an election to adopt a resolution for a referendum, a spokesperson said. 

Solutions at the Capitol?

Republican legislative proposals at the Capitol have sought more transparency from school districts that seek additional dollars from taxpayers or more participation from local governments that seek revenues through wheel taxes. Additionally, the Assembly Committee on Education signed off on a series of bills looking to encourage school district consolidation across the state. 

Public hearings were held earlier this session on companion bills that would prohibit recurring operating referendums and limit ballot questions from applying to more than four years. Hutton and Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, also brought forward a proposal to bar school districts from pursuing referendums if they are not in compliance with Department of Public Instruction financial reporting requirements. 

Nedweski during a public hearing in October cited Milwaukee Public Schools as a reason for the bill. Voters passed a $252 million MPS referendum in 2024, but the district had failed to file 2023 state financial reports on time, which led DPI to withhold state funding. 

The likelihood of the Republican proposals receiving Evers’ signature is slim. While Hutton’s Senate bill on wheel tax referendums will receive a public hearing, it’s not clear what appetite other lawmakers will have for the proposal. 

The Assembly Committee on Local Government held a public hearing on the Assembly version of Hutton’s bill in late October, but chair Rep. Todd Novak, R-Dodgeville, told Hutton and Rep. Dave Maxey, R-New Berlin, that he opposed the proposal.

“If they don’t like a wheel tax, they can replace the board,” Novak said. 

Hirsch in Eau Claire understands that the increased wheel tax may be a hardship for residents with the combination of city and county fees. But requiring a referendum would take away options the city needs, she said. 

“What we really wish would happen is that the state government would give us more local control and more tools,” Hirsch said. “For example, what we wish for most is a local option sales tax. We really don’t like putting all of the weight on property taxes, and we don’t want to charge people the wheel tax. We wish there were other tools in the tool kit.”

As local governments plead for more revenue, Wisconsin voters are souring on more taxes is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Although President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” offers new tax deductions and credits across different income levels, low-income households – the bottom 20% of income earners – are largely excluded from any significant tax benefits. 

“It’s particularly shocking because the law is so big,” said Elaine Maag, a senior fellow at The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “Typically, when trillions of dollars are spent, you see it really spread across the income distribution.”

The bill was signed into law over the summer.

Benefits that people with low incomes do receive may be outweighed when considered alongside other provisions in the bill, said Andrew Reschovsky, professor emeritus of public affairs and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This is especially true of cuts to safety net programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, Reschovsky said.

“This is the dilemma – if you count those things in with the tax side, the net will be that a lot of people are going to be worse off.”

Credits and deductions

A credit is an amount subtracted directly from the tax you owe while a deduction reduces the amount of income that can be taxed. Both can help keep more money in taxpayers’ pockets. 

The bill establishes new credits and deductions. 

The bill increases the: 

• Child Tax Credit from $2,000 per qualifying child to $2,200.  
• Child and Dependent Care Credit, which allows taxpayers to subtract certain costs associated with caring for children under 13 or dependents incapable of self-care. 

The bill introduces new deductions for:

• Workers in jobs where tips are common, allowing them to deduct up to $25,000 of tip income. 
• Individuals who work overtime, allowing them to deduct up to $12,500 of overtime pay. 
• People 65 and older, allowing them to deduct $6,000. 

Limitations

These changes may appear to help people who are financially struggling. But the bill affects federal taxes, so its new deductions and credits apply only to income taxable by the federal government. 

People with low income generally owe little or no federal income tax. 

Older low-income adults, for example, often rely primarily or entirely on Social Security benefits and are generally not subject to federal taxes. This means that a new $6,000 deduction would not benefit them, Rechovsky said.   

Rechovsky noted other reasons the new deductions are misleading or extremely narrow. 

“Yes, you’re a waiter and you benefit from not paying taxes on your tips,” he said. “But take someone in the same income range who works as a home health care worker – they don’t benefit at all.” 

Reschovsky also questions how those with low incomes would benefit from reducing the amount owed on overtime pay. 

“One of the reasons some people are low-income is that they’re lucky to get a 40-hour workweek,” he said. 

The same limitation applies to the new credits. 

An analysis by Maag estimates that in 2025 about 17 million children under 17 – or one in four – will receive less than the full value of the Child Tax Credit because their parents earn too little.

The bill also changes which families qualify based on citizenship status.  

The Child Tax Credit will be limited to children who are U.S. citizens and have at least one parent with a valid Social Security number. 

About 2 million U.S. citizen children will lose their Child Tax Credit because of this new requirement, Maag wrote, citing an analysis from the Joint Committee on Taxation. 

Safety nets

One benefit to people with low incomes from the bill is that it makes permanent many provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including lower income tax rates and larger standard deductions. 

“It’s true across the board that if taxes go down, your income after taxes goes up,” Reschovsky said. 

But for those with low incomes, the increase is minimal and will likely be outweighed by changes to Medicaid, premium subsidies provided by the Affordable Care Act and changes to SNAP. 

For example, the lowest 10% of earners may see a $1,600 reduction in annual income and benefits, mainly due to cuts in Medicaid and SNAP, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. 

“It’s just that classic view … that, ‘Well, these people are just sucking on the teat of the federal government, so we’re going to just make it as hard as possible for them to do that, because they’re just freeloaders,’” said Anthony Myers, program director of the Riverworks Financial Clinic.

Where to get help

For people with incomes under $67,000, free tax assistance is available through programs such as the IRS’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA. 

VITA sites can be found using the IRS Free Tax Prep Help website. 

Maag and Myers recommend making appointments as soon as possible. 

In addition to serving as a VITA site, Riverworks Financial Clinic operates year-round as the City of Milwaukee Financial Empowerment Center. 

Residents of the city who are 18 years and older can get free one-on-one financial counseling there. 

“Anyone that’s struggling with any of these (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) provisions, we can assist them with navigating through this,” Myers said. 

Here’s how Trump’s new tax law affects people with low incomes is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin was among the bottom 10 states in job and business creation in some 2025 rankings, but higher in others.

For starting a business, National Business Capital, a financier, ranked Wisconsin 42nd, citing high taxes and low available funding. Small-business publication Simplify LLC, whose analysis included new business and job creation rates, ranked Wisconsin 43rd. Wisconsin was ranked 35th by WalletHub and 34th by U.S. News & World Report.

More generally, CNBC ranked Wisconsin 21st for business. Wisconsin scored higher in infrastructure and cost of doing business, lower in quality of life and legal and regulatory burdens. Wisconsin also ranked 21st in a poll of CEOs and business owners on best states for business.

Critics say rankings have limited value or are misleading.

From January 2018 to January 2025, Wisconsin added 63,300 jobs, ranking 40th in job creation, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• National Business Capital: The Best States to Start a Business in 2025
• SimplifyLLC: Research: Best and Worst States for New Businesses
• WalletHub: Best & Worst States to Start a Business 2025
• CNBC: America’s Top States for Business 2025: The full rankings
• Chief Executive: Texas, Florida And Tennessee Top Chief Executive’s 2025 Best & Worst States For Business Poll
• Camoin Associates: Reading Between the Lines: What State Business Rankings Really Tell Us
• Kauffman Indicators of Entreprenuership: FAQs
• Federal Reserve Bank Philadelphia: Early Benchmark Revisions of State Payroll Employment 2018-2025

Do some rankings put Wisconsin among the bottom 10 states in job creation and entrepreneurship? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: < 1 minute

President Donald Trump’s recently enacted big bill removes the federal income tax on certain tips and overtime, but those tax deductions end in 2028 and have other limitations.

Under the new law, restaurant servers, barbers and other workers who typically work for tips can deduct up to $25,000 of tip income – meaning that amount isn’t taxable. 

For overtime pay, the tax deduction is up to $12,500.

Both deductions generally are for people who earn less than $150,000 annually.

Federal payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare (FICA), and state and local taxes, still apply.

The tipped income provision would affect about 2% of households, and they would receive an average tax cut of $1,800 annually, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimated.

About 8% of hourly workers and 4% of salaried workers regularly work overtime, according to the Yale Budget Lab.

The average annual savings for the overtime provision is $1,400, according to the White House.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Congress.gov: H.R.1 – One Big Beautiful Bill Act
• Fortune: The rules for paying taxes on tips and overtime are changing thanks to Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. Here’s what to expect
• RSM: No tax on tips and overtime: What employers should know
• Tax Policy Center: Tax-Free Tips: How Would They Impact Tipped Workers?
• Yale Budget Lab: “No Tax on Overtime” Raises Questions about Policy Design, Equity, and Tax Avoidance
• The White House: President Trump has signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into Law
• Associated Press: What to know — and what isn’t known yet — about US tax deductions for tips and overtime pay
• CNBC: Trump’s ‘big beautiful’ bill promises no tax on tips and overtime, but there’s a limit—here’s who qualifies
• USA Today: Did 'Big Beautiful Bill' include no tax on overtime? What to know about Trump’s 'promises kept'
• BankRate: No tax on tips and overtime: Here's how your taxes may shrink

Does Trump’s big bill end taxes on tips and overtime? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Gov. Tony Evers’ 2023 partial veto increased K-12 public school districts’ revenue fundraising limits by $325 per student each year until 2425, but that doesn’t guarantee property tax increases each year.

Revenue limits set how much a district can increase funding through a combination of property taxes and general state aid. School districts could raise property taxes in order to reach the maximum revenue, or the Legislature and governor could provide more general aid through the biennial budget. The average limit across districts last year was $13,363.

This year, the Republican-controlled Legislature kept general state aid flat. School boards can raise property taxes up to their allowed maximum funding in their annual budgets.

In future budgets, the Legislature and governor could provide enough state aid to cover the limit increase in whole or even exceed it, which would force districts to reduce property taxes. They also could repeal the 400-year revenue limit provision.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Wisconsin Watch Interview with Sarah Shaw, deputy research director for the Wisconsin Policy Forum
• PBS Wisconsin: Partial veto by Evers to extend school funding boost by 400 years upsets opponents
• Legislative Fiscal Bureau: School District Revenue Limits and Referenda

Does Gov. Tony Evers’ 2023 budget veto increase property taxes each year for the next 400 years? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The December Farm Foundation Forum, Tax Year 2025: Potential Impacts and Opportunities for Farmers and the Agriculture Sector, covered the possible outcomes and impacts for farms and the greater agricultural sector from potential changes to taxation policy in 2025 and beyond. Some key aspects discussed included the impact of expiring tax provisions, and specific issues like estate tax and bonus depreciation. 

The conversation was moderated by Todd Van Hoose, president and CEO of Farm Credit Council, and included input from Mark Albright, public affairs specialist in tax outreach partnership and education at the Internal Revenue Service; Kent Bacus, executive director of government affairs at National Cattlemen’s Beef Association; Tia McDonald, research agricultural economist with USDA Economic Research Service; Paul Neiffer, agribusiness and business advisor with Farm CPA Report; and Elizabeth Swanson, national tax senior manager with Pinion. 

Below are some of the main points presented by the panel. 

1. Expiring Tax Provisions: Expiring tax provisions, including key provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), will impact farm households. These include the child tax credit, earned income tax credit, estate tax exemptions, and bonus depreciation, set to expire by the end of 2025. 

2. Impact on Tax Liabilities: Expiring provisions are expected to increase tax liabilities by nearly $9 billion, with $650 million coming from the estate tax exemptions. The most significant increase will come from the expiration of changes to federal income tax rates, the removal of the state and local tax cap, and the reinstatement of the personal exemption. 

3. Qualified Business Income (QBI) Deduction: The QBI deduction, which allows farm businesses to deduct 20% of their income, will be affected by expiring provisions. Larger farms benefit more from this deduction, but moderate-sales farms face the highest percentage increase in taxes due to the expiration of this provision. 

4. Estate Tax and Exemptions: A major concern for farm households is the estate tax exemption, which will be halved in 2026, potentially leading to higher estate tax liabilities for farm families.  

5. Concerns Over Bonus Depreciation: The phase-out of bonus depreciation, which allows faster write-offs of equipment costs, poses a risk to farm businesses that rely on capital-intensive equipment. The expiration could lead to significant tax burdens unless replaced with alternative provisions. 

6. CTA Compliance and Penalties: The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) mandates reporting beneficial ownership information for entities like LLCs. Failure to comply with CTA filing requirements can result in significant penalties. However, on December 3, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas entered a preliminary injunction suspending enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and its implementation of regulations nationwide. 

7. IRS Resources for Farmers: Various IRS resources are available to farmers, including the Farmers Tax Guide, tax tips for farmers, and an online Agricultural Tax Center. These tools help farmers navigate tax complexities, especially regarding crop insurance, disaster payments, and updated provisions like mileage rates and self-employment tax thresholds. 

The two-hour discussion, including the audience question and answer session, was recorded and is archived on the Farm Foundation website.  

Please note: This summary was created with the help of ChatGPT. Please refer to the recorded session for full details. 

The post Farm Foundation Forum Detailed Possible Impacts of Upcoming Changes to Taxation Policy appeared first on Farm Foundation.