Author: Tamarine Cornelius

States can raise taxes on millionaires to build revenue for shared priorities without harming economic growth, according to a new report. Eight states and Washington, D.C. have implemented some version of a millionaires’ tax in recent years, raising tax rates on the people who are taking an increasingly large share of all income. After raising top income rates, most of those states experienced economic and income growth that equaled or outpaced that of their neighbors. In addition to helping fund critical services, the targeted tax rate increases were a response to the growing share of income that is taken...

Wisconsin policymakers have a vexing challenge this session: what should they do about the Incredible Shrinking Foxconn project? It is especially a problem for Republican legislators because they not only approved the huge subsidies for Foxconn, but they also passed a bill during the lame duck session that gives themselves control of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) for the next couple of years. With that power comes increased responsibility for the difficult Foxconn situation. Mounting evidence creates serious doubts that Foxconn will build a factory or other sort of enterprise in Racine County that comes anywhere close to...

Over the next two years, Wisconsin is on track to hand out enormous amounts of public money in the form of tax breaks and cash subsidies to corporations and wealthy businesses owners. The potential diversion of more than a billion dollars in public revenue will make it harder for lawmakers to put together a budget that makes necessary investments in healthy and well-educated communities, public infrastructure, and working families. For Wisconsin’s economy to work for everyone, our state needs to invest in healthy and well-educated workers and communities, public infrastructure, and working families. Our state must also help eradicate...

Low-paid workers across the country got raises recently, as 19 states increased their minimum wages. Those raises will lift some workers out of poverty, help struggling families make ends meet, and make it easier for workers to achieve financial security. A minimum wage increase gives a particular boost to workers of color, for whom a long history of wage discrimination has depressed wages. Low-paid workers across the country got raises in recent weeks, as 19 states increased their minimum wages. Those raises will lift some workers out of poverty, help struggling families make ends meet, and make it easier...

Everyone in Wisconsin deserves the opportunity to fully participate in and benefit from the state’s economic growth. Our economy, our communities, our schools, and our families will fare better when every person in the state has full access to opportunity. But the gains from Wisconsin’s growth are not being widely shared. A growing concentration of income is being held in the hands of the top 1%, while the incomes of everyone else stagnate, making it harder to make ends meet and achieve economic security. There is an even greater gap between the almost exclusively white 1% in Wisconsin and...