Republican budget would cut property taxes by $50 over two years

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The property tax cut Republicans inserted into the state budget would save the owner of a median-priced Wisconsin home $50 over the next two tax years, according to an analysis released Friday.

The Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee inserted a $3.3 billion income and property tax cut in the two-year spending plan earlier this month.

According to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s analysis, the owner of a median-priced home would pay $3,214 in property taxes for 2021. That’s down $101 from $3,315 paid in 2020.

Homeowners would pay $3,246 for 2022, up $32 from the previous year. Taken together, homeowners would spend $6,460 on property taxes over the next two years, down $50 from the $6,510 they spent in 2019 and 2020.

The GOP would accomplish the income tax cut largely by reducing the tax rate for people making $23,930 to $263,480 from 6.27% to 5.3%. According to the fiscal bureau, a taxpayer making between $40,000 and $50,000 would see a $115 reduction in tax year 2022.

The Assembly is set to take its final votes on the budget Tuesday. The Senate is expected to take up the document Wednesday. Approval by both houses would send the budget to Gov. Tony Evers, who can use his partial veto powers to rewrite the document or kill it outright.