MADISON – Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) – the combined state chamber and manufacturers’ association – praised lawmakers’ bipartisan actions over the past two days to repeal Wisconsin’s personal property tax providing Main Street businesses with an estimated $200 million a year in tax relief.
The personal property tax is one of Wisconsin’s oldest taxes pre-dating statehood. Over the last 170 years, the legislature has created a myriad of exemptions to the tax resulting in uneven enforcement, frequent audits, and litigation.
For many small businesses, complying with the recordkeeping costs associated with the tax can be more expensive than the tax itself.
“We applaud the bipartisan committee action of Wisconsin lawmakers who voted to repeal an archaic and burdensome tax that has cost Wisconsin businesses millions in unnecessary audit and litigation costs,” said WMC General Counsel and Director of Tax, Transportation & Legal Affairs Cory Fish. “We encourage all legislators to support small businesses still recovering from one of the biggest economic downturns in a century by voting to repeal this tax when the legislation comes to the floor.”
All of Wisconsin’s neighbors—Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan—have repealed their personal property tax laws.
WMC has led a coalition of thirty local chambers of commerce asking the legislature to work in a bipartisan manner to repeal this burdensome tax. You can find a letter the coalition sent to the legislature earlier this month here.
