Browsing: Economic Development

Public workers represent the state’s best traditions By John Nichols I was born and raised in Wisconsin. So were my…

The revolution came to Madison in February, but not the one you think. Sure, Gov. Scott Walker’s efforts to roll…

By now, the political lore is familiar: A major political party, cast aside by Wisconsin voters due to a lengthy…

The economy dominates every political and policy conversation these days. Some people know what they’re talking about, most do not.…

As the US implements the transformation of General Motors into “Government Motors,” and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) raise government investment and entanglement in the private sector to historic new levels, the question on everyone’s mind is “will it work?”   Oddly enough, clues to the answer of that question may come from an unexpected place:  Iraq.

Early in the postwar era, Wisconsin was not among the nation’s highest-taxed states, as measured by state and local taxes.1 Relative to personal income, Wisconsin’s tax burden flirted with the “top ten” during those years, but did not reach it. That changed in 1963 when the full effect of sales and income tax increases enacted