I do agree that revenues are lower. No doubt about it. That is why we must reduce spending, and if Washington is unwilling to reduce it enough, then all taxpayers should pay an increase.
There is a bright note in our state:
Wisconsin tax revenues up 4.4% over 4 months
By Matt Pommer
December 11, 2003
State general purpose tax collections are up 4.4 percent for the first four months of the state's 2003-2004 fiscal year, the Department of Revenue said today.
That includes a 3.1 percent increase in personal income tax revenues, a 4.4 percent boost in sales tax collections, and a 21.1 percent boost in corporate income taxes. The three provide 92 percent of the tax money collected for the general fund.
Under the state budget, general purpose revenues were projected to increase by 5.1 percent in 2003-2004 and 5.6 percent in 2004-2005. Christmastime sales traditionally have generated 30 percent of sales tax annual revenue, while personal income tax numbers are at their highest in the spring.
Wisconsin's four-month numbers are better than those released earlier this fall for the first three months, when the big taxes showed 3.1 percent more being collected than in the first three months of the 2002-2003 fiscal year.
In the July through September period, national state revenue figures showed a 4.5 percent increase, according to the Rockefeller Institute. But tax increases accounted for much of the national figures. Wisconsin's 2003-2005 state budget has no state-collected tax increases.
Wisconsin Revenue Secretary Michael Morgan said there were some hopeful signs on both the state and national economic scene, and he predicted growths in employment and personal income in 2004 at both the state and national levels.
He noted the U.S. Department of Labor recently reported Wisconsin was among states experiencing a net increase in jobs over the previous year. But Morgan said Wisconsin likely will continue to feel the effects of a sluggish national economy in the current quarter.
The report suggests that will reflect improvement in employment by 0.8 percent in the final months of 2003, and a new Wisconsin Economic Outlook report suggests that absent aggressive action on the federal level, there will continue to be declines in manufacturing.
Anticipated job growth in Wisconsin, slightly ahead of the national average this year, is estimated at 1.2 percent above the national average for 2004 and 2.1 percent in 2005.
The Wisconsin report projects 3.5 percent personal income growth this calendar year, followed by 5 percent in 2004 and 5.4 percent in 2005. Wage and salary growth is projected at 2.5 percent this year, 5.1 percent in 2004 and 6 percent in 2005.
In the first four months, total general purpose tax revenues were $2.849 billion, including $1.495 billion in individual income taxes, $1.021 billion in sales taxes, and $157 million in corporate income taxes. |
