Lost Revenue Continues is the title of a four-page report recently released by the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) of Delafield, Wisconsin. “Wisconsin continues to lose residents, income, and tax revenue to states with low or no income tax” was the subtitle.

The findings included “In 2023, the most recent year available, over 88,000 individuals again left the state, taking $4.2 billion in adjusted gross income (AGI) with them. Roughly 65% of them, once again, chose states with a flat or no income tax, bringing $2.83 billion of income to those states.” The report included a page and a half of narrative, a colorful and informative map of the United States, and two pages of spreadsheets showing the 24 states with a flat or no income tax for 2023 and for the decade 2014-2023.

According to the IRG webpage, the organization is “Making Wisconsin the heart of the American Dream” by “Developing policy reforms, engaging communities, and holding government accountable, IRG wants to give all Wisconsinites an opportunity to succeed and prosper.” IRG believes “Wisconsin’s best days are still to come.”

National news will tell you that California and New York are big outmigration states. It appears that Wisconsin is one too. To no one’s surprise, Florida and Texas are two of the three destination states of choice for Wisconsinites leaving the state measured in both “AGI from Wisconsin” and number of individuals involved. Illinois is second in both criteria – quite possibly because of the proximity to Wisconsin. The bottom three destination states (of the 24 states with a flat or no income tax) are Alaska, Wyoming, and New Hampshire.

In the decade of 2014 to 2023, 65% of the 909,020 people that moved out of Wisconsin went to states with a flat income tax or no income tax at all. This outmigration is similar to the size of Milwaukee and 15% of Wisconsin’s population. Another critical factor for consideration is that in Wisconsin 9.6% of personal income is consumed by local and state taxes and government fees. This indicates the people moving out are now not paying a significant amount of state and local taxes and fees – a deficit the people left behind must now pay!

This great outmigration impacts not only the economics of Wisconsin, but the politics and government of Wisconsin as well.

Politically there has been discussion about the possibility that Wisconsin will lose a Congressional District after the next Census in 2030 based on current population. And, if the Congressional District maps are redrawn the chances are good the State Legislative District maps will be too!

Some of the reasons for leaving the state may be the current Administration in Madison. Governor Evers’ famous 400 year tax increase comes to mind. This increase has caused the proposed Constitutional Amendment on November’s ballot titled “Prohibit Partial Veto to Increase Tax or Fee Amendment”. The intent is to stop the Governor, and future Governors, from using the partial veto to create or increase any tax or fee. If it passes, this is great going forward but Governor Evers has already done the damage.

Another issue a few years ago was the fight that the Governor had concerning undesignated funds from the federal government coming to Wisconsin. Governor Evers thought that he should have total control but the Legislature –remember “We the People”—claimed the control. The related proposed Constitutional Amendment went to the people for vote in August 2024 and was defeated.

It seems a bit ironic that liberals demonstrated with a “No Kings” day but the Governor thinks he can rule the state and control the state’s finances without regard to the Legislature’s input.
A final thought concerning the current administration and how people think on moving out of Wisconsin. The Democrat nominee for Governor dropped out of the race with little support and little money but suddenly with a Governor Evers “push” was back in the race days before the election. The Governor was everywhere with the nominee. How many people are seriously concerned that if this nominee is successful on Election Day we will have a third Evers term? (Aren’t two terms enough?)

There are many reasons for moving out of Wisconsin and with the departure of citizens their money goes too! This is campaign season so get informed, get involved, and ask the candidates why the “Lost Revenue Continues”?