GERMANTOWN, WISCONSIN - OCTOBER 03: Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany speaks to guests during a campaign stop at the Von Rothenburg Bier Stube during their Octoberfest celebration on October 03, 2026 in Germantown, Wisconsin. Tiffany is running against Democrat David Crowley. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Tom Tiffany wants to eliminate personal income tax. Conservatives say it would result in highest sales tax in U.S.
Oct 8, 2026, 10:39 PM ET
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Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor Tom Tiffany says he wants to eliminate the personal income tax, but that would likely result in the highest sales tax in the country, according to a conservative think tank.
Tiffany told a voter that he supported the idea at a campaign stop in late September, according to audio obtained by WKOW-TV in Madison.
“I will not be able to do it in the first budget, but after that we sure hope to be able to get it done,” he said.
Think of the state government’s budget revenue streams like a bar stool with three legs. Holding it up are income taxes, property taxes and sales taxes. If you eliminate one of these, the stool is almost certainly going to collapse. But if you want to restabilize it you must strengthen another leg.
This means cutting spending for public services dramatically and/or increasing the sales tax, because unlike some other states that don’t have an income tax, Wisconsin doesn’t benefit from having unique sources of revenue.
The Badger Institute, a conservative think tank in Milwaukee, wrote in September 2024 that “Wisconsin, in order to eliminate the income tax, would likely have to raise its sales taxes higher than anyplace else in America and simultaneously enact unprecedented, dramatic spending cuts.”
The current sales tax in Wisconsin is 5% with local municipalities adding more. Eliminating the income tax alone could force a sales tax increase of 6.7% and blow a roughly $9 billion dollar in the budget. A nearly 12% or more sales tax would far exceed any state in the U.S.
Eliminating property taxes alone could force a sales tax increase of 8.7% and take nearly $14 billion dollars away from local budgets.
Nine states do not currently have an income tax, but other states have tried and it led to disastrous results.
Kansas had to raise other taxes almost immediately to balance the budget — including the sales tax. The experiment resulted in a $900 million budget deficit and the state Legislature repealed the tax cuts.
Voters in Missouri will decide on Election Day, Nov. 3, whether they want to phase out their income tax. The sales tax could increase by as much as 8.5%.
In Tennessee, there is no income tax with almost 60% of their revenue coming from sales tax. Tennessee is also one of the few states with a grocery tax, something they utilize to make up the hole left by not having an income tax.
As a result of these various factors, Tennessee ranks second to last for revenue coming into the government. This means less spending per capita on education, police, health, and roads.
Tiffany’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Drake Bentley is the general assignment reporter for the Milwaukee Courier, covering politics, sports and the community. He is an award-winning investigative journalist who has worked for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, Newsweek, Heavy and The Sporting News. He is a northside Milwaukee native, former political staffer and graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the University of Nebraska.
