By Dustin Beilke

Wisconsin’s weather has turned colder and will soon turn colder still. For many WEAC-Retired members, this means flying south and hunkering down until the tundra thaws.

Complaining about Wisconsin’s taxes is something of a time-honored tradition when cheeseheads travel to other states, even though the facts show that Wisconsin is not a high-tax state at all. But years and years of news reports and partisan “analysis” have convinced many of us—even those of us who believe in the importance of public service and understand how taxes are investments and not merely expenses—that our state is a so-called “Tax Hell.”

I suspect that complaints about taxes are as old as the practice of taxation itself. However, in the last few decades these complaints have served as anchors for disparate national movements opposing school funding, healthcare reform and public education itself, among other things.

Wisconsin’s business lobbyists and Republican leaders, aided by the Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee, and talk radio in Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay, were actually ahead of the national curve when it comes to railing against taxes and have been complaining longer, louder, and more irrationally than just about anyone. They greatly distort Wisconsin’s tax picture, and some Wisconsin retirees actually factor their misinformation into decisions to relocate to other states permanently.

This new study from the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families shows that taxes in Wisconsin—taken altogether, which is the only way that makes sense—are below the national average.

Here are some facts you do not often hear:

• Wisconsin is 25^th in total state and local spending per capita, 5.8% below the national average. 
• Total state and local taxes per capita in 2006-07 were $65 less per person than the national average.
• Wisconsin's ranking for total state and local taxes per capita is 20^th. 
• Our state relies less on fees and other revenue sources than most other states, and now ranks 39^th in that category, 13 percent below the national average.
• Wisconsin is 46^th in per capita federal revenue. 
• In what is called "own source" revenue - which combines all state and local taxes, fees and things like interest earnings, but excludes federal revenue - Wisconsin is 26^th in the per capita ranking (5% below the national average) and 23^rd when it is measured relative to income.

This new data bolsters many nonpartisan studies conducted over the last several years showing that Wisconsin educators and public employees achieve great results with average or below average revenues. Much of this data is collected on this WEAC.org resource page.

So by all means enjoy your travels. And when you are basking in warmer climes do not waste a single second feeling guilty about those of us you have left behind back here in the cold. (Travelers should also check out WEAC-Retired member Tom Krief’s Travel Tips in the WEAC-Retired quarterly newsletter Keeping In Touch.)

Come back as soon as it warms up. And don’t fall into the trap of talking about Wisconsin as a haven for high taxes and expensive public services.