Wisconsin Policy Forum

Every year the Wisconsin Policy Forum releases a top five list of their most important findings from the year.

Rob Henken is the president of the Wisconsin Policy Forum and he discusses each finding.

1. Shift to online shopping helps taxpayers but not state budget.

It’s become common in Wisconsin for school districts to go directly to voters to ask for increased property tax funding. These school referendums have seen high approval rates in recent years.

You might think that the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic devastation would reverse the trend, but that is not what has happened this year.

The COVID-19 pandemic plunged the world’s economy into the biggest recession since the Great Depression. Many Americans continue to struggle as the flare-ups threaten the little progress we’ve been able to make since lockdowns began in April.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially difficult for Wisconsin’s artistic and cultural industries. These industries account for 3.1% of Wisconsin's gross domestic product. That's more than hospitals (2.9%) or accommodation and food services (2.4%), which includes the revenue made from restaurants, bars, and hotels. While some states have created emergency funds for these industries, Wisconsin hasn’t. In fact, Wisconsin ranks dead last for the amount of funding the state generally provides to arts and culture among U.S. states.

The affordable housing crisis has been continuing to grow in the U.S. over the last decade. But the COVID-19 pandemic and record-high unemployment have exacerbated an already struggling system.

Protests sparked by police killings of Black people are drawing attention to the United States' persistent racial disparities. Those disparities are also widespread in education. Wisconsin has some of the largest test score and high school graduation gaps between Black and white students.

Over the last couple of decades, the gender pay gap has been narrowing nationwide. But it still remains a very real problem. A new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum finds that women make around 85 cents for every dollar that a man makes in Milwaukee County. In Waukesha County, it’s just 76 cents to every dollar made by a man.

If voters didn't approve a tax referendum for Milwaukee Public Schools in April, the district would have been in a dire situation. That’s according to researchers with the Wisconsin Policy Forum, which analyzes the MPS budget each year.

The true economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is still unclear. Unemployment has had its highest surge in U.S. history, dwarfing previous records. Small businesses are struggling to survive, and the stock market has been vacillating between extreme lows and highs.

In the Milwaukee area, people are concerned about what this is going to mean for themselves, their loved ones, and the community. Rob Henken, president of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, has been analyzing how this pandemic may impact local budgets.

The COVID-19 crisis could significantly deplete state resources in Wisconsin. Gov. Tony Evers says the state could lose more than $2 billion over the next year because tax collections are expected to drop and demand for state services like Medicaid is expected to increase.

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As the nation hunkers down at home, we’re simultaneously staring down an impending recession brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s still unclear how the recession will unfold, but economists fear we could be looking at an unemployment rate higher than during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

It was just over a decade ago that the Great Recession led to skyrocketing unemployment, home foreclosures, and stagnated wages. But it seems that Wisconsin has learned some things in the time since the Great Recession.

Not long ago, black Wisconsinites were less likely than their white and Latino counterparts to die in a car crash.

But a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum titled, "Wrong Way: Black Auto Deaths Up In Wisconsin", found that over the last decade, the number of black people dying from car accidents in Wisconsin each year has doubled. At the same time, the number of white Wisconsinites dying in accidents has substantially decreased.

There have been lots of arguments made both for and against medical marijuana. But there are flaws in claims made on both sides. That's what researchers at the Wisconsin Policy Forum found with their latest report.

It’s that time of year again when lawmakers are deliberating budget proposals from the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County. This year the county caught some fortuitous breaks whereas the city is struggling to cover soaring pension costs. But both are calling for raising the sales tax as a tenable way forward. 

Since it was first envisioned, there has been controversy over The Hop streetcar in Milwaukee. One of the central concerns has been about its funding: Namely, who’s paying for this and could the money be spent on a more worthy cause?

The Wisconsin Policy Forum is not picking sides in this debate. Rather, their recent report on The Hop’s funding structure is meant to clarify where its funding comes from and how that compares to similar projects in other cities.

Local governments are incredibly important to our communities. They are largely responsible for allocating money to schools, roads, and first responder services, like police and firefighters. But too many local governments can be problematic. It can mean overlapping responsibilities and potentially, a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Accessing government data can be extremely difficult. It's not only challenging to find the right reports, but parsing through data and trying to make sense of it can be an incredibly daunting task. 

From roads and bridges to aging buildings and buses, the Milwaukee area is facing a lot of infrastructure needs. When taken in its totality, the dollar amount required for those needs is enormous and far beyond the area’s financial capabilities.

Municipalities in Wisconsin are very limited in the kinds of taxes they can levy. Every kind of tax is highly regulated by the state. That includes the room tax, which is placed on hotel rooms and other overnight stays in Wisconsin. The tax has become increasingly popular in communities throughout the state. 

Wisconsin's population is aging and the demands on the area's senior centers are increasing, as well. That is presenting a challenge for many areas of the state, particularly Milwaukee County, because just as the population is aging, so are the senior center facilities. 

Gov. Tony Evers' two-year state budget proposal was released late in February. As expected, the proposal includes many of the things the governor campaigned on: increased funding for education, tax cuts for middle and low-income earners, as well as more funds for road repairs. There have been many objections from the Republican-led Legislature, and it remains unclear how much of Evers' budget will be passed.

Over the past 10 years, milk prices have been declining. Amid production increases and waning demand, Wisconsin’s dairy farmers are finding themselves in an increasingly difficult predicament.

Gov. Tony Evers will make his first budget address on Thursday. As he outlines his spending priorities for the coming two years, officials from municipalities around Wisconsin will be listening with a keen ear as they set out to create their own spending plans. But many of these budgets will rely on property tax revenue to fund their services, rather than state aid.

The Wisconsin Policy Forum examined just how dependent they are on property taxes, versus other sources of revenue, and how Wisconsin compares with other places.

Gov. Tony Evers wants to increase state special education funding by $600 million. The dramatic proposal follows a decade of flat state funding, despite rising costs to serve students with disabilities.

Right now, the main state support for special education only covers about a quarter of school districts’ costs. It’s up to local districts to make up the difference.

Earlier in January, the city of Wauwatosa was featured in a New York Times article. But instead of the flyover country narratives we're used to hearing in Wisconsin, the piece focused on a new tax avoidance tactic that has some municipalities worried.

Voters in Wisconsin made their wishes known about priorities for the state in the coming years. They elected a new governor in Democrat Tony Evers, while the legislature remains in the hands of the Republican Party. But actually accomplishing the will of the electorate may be challenging when it comes to supporting publicly funded programs. 

Over the past three decades, Wisconsin’s state prison population has increased by more than 200 percent, and it’s expected to keep growing. According to a brief by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, that growing number will also lead to a growing budget.

The Department of Corrections is asking for an additional $149.4 million in its 2019-2021 budget. David Callender from the Policy Forum says, the increase will directly impact Wisconsin taxpayers.

Policymakers in the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County are debating the merits of proposed budgets for the coming fiscal year and weighing legislative priorities with fiscal responsibility.

Every year, the Wisconsin Policy Forum scrutinizes these budget proposals and offers some analysis. This year is no exception. What is an exception is the relatively non-controversial nature of the proposals.

The Milwaukee Public Museum is currently seeking a new location. Advocates of the project say both the museum’s public space and its offices and archives are largely outdated and inadequate for a modern museum and research facility.

Americans are facing an affordable housing crisis. In some cities, the main issues are availability and soaring housing prices. But in Milwaukee, the biggest issue seems to be income. While housing prices have steadily increased, wages have remained stagnant.