This Tax Foundation study is inconveniently timed for Gov. Scott Walker, but I’m betting Mary Burke won’t take advantage of it:

The Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index enables business leaders, government policymakers, and taxpayers to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. While there are many ways to show how much is collected in taxes by state governments, the Index is designed to show how well states structure their tax systems, and provides a road-map to improving these structures. …

The absence of a major tax is a common factor among many of the top ten states. Property taxes and unemployment insurance taxes are levied in every state, but there are several states that do without one or more of the major taxes: the corporate tax, the individual income tax, or the sales tax. Wyoming, Nevada, and South Dakota have no corporate or individual income tax; Alaska has no individual income or state-level sales tax; Florida has no individual income tax; and New Hampshire and Montana have no sales tax. 

Where does Wisconsin rank? Let’s go to the map:

The states in the bottom ten suffer from the same afflictions: complex, non-neutral taxes with comparatively high rates. New Jersey, for example, suffers from some of the highest property tax burdens in the country, is one of just two states to levy both an inheritance and an estate tax, and maintains some of the worst structured individual income taxes in the country.

Wisconsin ranks 43rd because our sales taxes rank 14th, unemployment insurance ranks 27th, property taxes rank 31st, corporate taxes rank 33rd, and individual income taxes rank 43rd.

The Tax Foundation included this interesting statement:

Since the last edition, many states have experienced ranking changes largely because of the fundamental reforms made in a handful of states. The most exciting change occurred in North Carolina which experienced the largest rank improvement in the study’s history, jumping from 44th to 16th place due to a fundamental overhaul of state’s tax code. Nebraska, North Dakota, New York, and Wisconsin also improved their tax codes. Conversely, Maine was the only state that saw a significant drop in rank this year due to its increased state sales tax rate.

The Tax Foundation also reports this about Wisconsin:

Though Wisconsin’s overall rank did not change for this edition of the Index, the state repealed its inventory tax on rental property, improving its property tax component score from 36th to 31st (see Table 6), and conformed mineral depletion to federal schedules, improving its corporate tax component score from 34th to 33rd (see Table 3).

Since 2012, Wisconsin has ranked no better than 41st. And people wonder why not enough jobs are being created in this state. So why doing nothing to improve your ranking is an improvement is beyond my understanding.

Patrick Gleason thinks this is big news for Walker, believe it or don’t:

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker has been chipping away at income taxes in recent years, and has made clear that he plans to continue reducing income tax rates if reelected. At Gov. Walker’s request, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (R) has been traveling throughout the state on a listening tour, holding tax reform roundtables to get feedback from constituents in preparation for a second term push on tax reform.

While Wisconsin’s overall ranking did not change on the 2015 Business Tax Climate Index, its standing improved in two key index components: corporate taxes and property taxes. The labor and entitlement reforms enacted by Gov. Walker in the face of rabid opposition and protests that caused $11 million worth of damage to the state capitol have precipitated property tax relief across the state. In addition to that, Gov. Walker signed into law a bill earlier this year that eliminated the state’s rental inventory tax. This reform improved the state’s property tax system from 36th to 31th best in the nation. That legislation was sponsored by Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R), who is a Certified Public Accountant by trade.

On the corporate side, Gov. Walker also enacted a bill this year that conformed mineral depletion to federal cost recovery schedules. This improved Wisconsin’s corporate tax system from 30th to 25th best. While Gov. Walker inherited massive structural deficits and a poor business tax climate from his Democratic predecessor, he has taken significant steps over the last four years to move the state in the right direction, toward a less burdensome and more pro-growth tax code.

“Wisconsin’s reform efforts in the last two legislative sessions were positive steps in a state that has ranked poorly on our Index for many years,” said Tax Foundation Economist and Manager of State Projects Scott Drenkard. “As the tax reform debate heats up, I am looking forward to what the next session produces.”

The outcome of these elections in North Carolina and Wisconsin will have major tax policy implications. Federal tax reform is expected to be one of the top issues on the docket on Capitol Hill in the coming years. Tax reform is arguably the most politically difficult undertaking a lawmaker can pursue. By electing Thom Tillis to the U.S. Senate, North Carolina voters would send someone to Washington who has in-depth, firsthand experience in enacting pro-growth tax reform that reduces rates and simplifies the code. In Wisconsin, voters have a choice between Mary Burke, who plagiarized her campaign platform, or Gov. Walker, who has made clear he will continue and build upon the positive tax changes enacted during his first term if reelected to a second.

Kleefisch’s tax reform tour ended up in property tax cuts four times as much as income tax cuts. That’s great for homeowners (and unless you live in a student dorm, you pay property taxes directly or indirectly), but property taxes don’t have much to do with the business climate, as high as our property taxes are. Income taxes have a lot to do with our business climate, and they’re still among the highest in the U.S.

Wisconsin taxes are as high as they are not merely because of our state’s ingrained envy of those with money, but also because nothing prevents taxes from raising because nothing prevents spending from increasing. The lack of spending and tax increase controls in our state’s constitution is a major flaw in our state’s constitution, and the lack of interest among Republicans in doing that (which voters could have voted on Tuesday had Republicans started the constitutional-amendment process after taking over the Legislature in 2011) makes you wonder why you should vote for Republicans.

The reason, however, that Democrats won’t jump on this business tax climate comparison is that Democrats could not care less about a state’s tax climate. Democrats’ two coequal priorities are (1A) more money for their constituent groups and (1B) sticking it to non-Democrats.

This also would require Mary Burke to explain why the state’s business climate was so bad when her governor, James Doyle, was in charge and when she ran (if that’s what you want to call it) the state Department of Commerce, which did such a great job at business promotion that both Walker and 2010 gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett called for, respectively, its replacement and a major overhaul.