Tax the Rich
Working families keep this state running. It’s time our tax code worked for us.
Fran has a plan to make the super-rich and big corporations finally pay their fair share
We’ve all been there: We look up from our property tax bill or paystub to see a crumbling street and wonder what the hell we’re paying for. It gets worse when we learn that some corporations and billionaires aren’t even paying income taxes. The system — our government and their biggest donors — takes money from working people and funnels it to the super-rich. It’s time to hit the brakes — and Fran’s got the vision.
Wisconsinites deserve a government that delivers for them and a tax code that treats them fairly. But today, we don’t have either of those things. Just as Congress has cut programs like Medicaid to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the richest 1%, Wisconsin unfairly places the largest tax burdens on its poorest households. The lowest-earning 20% of Wisconsin households pay over 10% of their income in state and local taxes. But folks making over $1.3 million pay only 6.6%. When richer people aren’t asked to pay their fair share of taxes, it means our tax system is effectively handing them free money.
This tax system is unfair on working families and leaves our public services underfunded. Year after year, inadequate state education funding forces school districts to go to referendum just to keep the lights on. Small towns and big cities alike struggle to maintain roads and keep libraries open. The UW system and our technical colleges, once the pride of our state and the national leaders in public education, are shuttering campuses, removing majors, and eliminating research positions.
Fran believes that we can improve public services while making our tax code fairer. Our lives are getting more expensive, and we cannot keep — we cannot afford to keep — passing the buck. Enough is enough. This is Francesca Hong’s TAX THE RICH plan.
Here’s how it works
Tax the 1% to cut our property taxes & fund schools
Last year, Fran introduced legislation that would cut property tax bills while putting more money into public schools. It also includes reimbursing public schools for 90% of the actual cost of special education services.
Here’s how it would work: We stop squeezing working families and ask the extremely wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share. Fran’s plan adds a small 1% increase to the top tax bracket (for couples making over $431,000 or individuals making over $323,000) and creates a new tax bracket for millionaires and large corporations that kicks in on the millionth dollar of income or profit. The Department of Revenue estimates that if millionaires and corporations chip in 17 cents out of every dollar earned after that first million, it could lower all our property taxes by 44%.
Rather than forcing school districts to go back to referendum and increasing property taxes on seniors and people with fixed incomes, we can fund education while making the system fairer.
Rebuild state INFRASTRUCTURE by taxing hidden wealth
Much of the wealth of the super-rich comes from investments that are never taxed. An estate tax makes sure that money gets taxed once before it passes to heirs who didn’t earn it. Wisconsin doesn’t have an estate tax, unlike many states. One way we can make Wisconsin’s tax code fairer is by introducing an estate tax on non-farmland estates valued at over $5 million. This will raise over $100 million in revenue per year. That’s money we could spend on public investments like free universal school meals or the Knowles-Nelson conservation program.
Local options for local funding
It’s not sustainable to build municipal spending on property taxes — and if you’ve driven on Wisconsin streets, it shows. Thousands of cities and counties around the country fund everything from fixing potholes to mental health services or entrepreneurship by diversifying their revenue streams, but Republicans have left Wisconsin communities behind. Fran has introduced legislation that would finally give municipalities and counties the ability to adopt progressive income taxes if approved through a public referendum.
Replace data center tax breaks with state investment
Wisconsin is going to spend $2 billion on tax breaks for data centers in the current biennial budget. Fran’s not opposed to helping companies that help Wisconsin — those that invest in our state and provide good jobs for Wisconsinites — but siphoning billions of dollars to parasitic polluters is peak irresponsibility. Fran’s CRANES & TRAINS lays out what that money could go toward instead:
- Union-built affordable housing and clean energy
- Community programs
- School construction
- High-speed rail
Close huge loopholes for the super-rich
Wisconsin’s Manufacturing and Agriculture tax credit (MAC), a Scott Walker initiative, has wasted billions of state dollars to subsidize the ultra-rich.
Small and struggling businesses can’t use it—just huge corporations. Super-rich CEOs who use it on their income taxes end up paying a 0.15% income tax—meaning the poorest Wisconsinites pay more than seven times in taxes as some billionaires.
Of the estimated $496 million spent on the MAC in 2023-2024, 71% went to letting some of the richest people in Wisconsin pay less than a quarter of a percent in income tax. That’s $350 million we’re not collecting a year, three times the size of Trump’s projected annual Medicaid cuts, or about twice as much as Republicans approved in the general purpose road construction budget for 2025–2027.
Fran believes we should cut this income loophole entirely and spend the money on programs that help real families — like community health programs, utility upgrades, and conservation — and make any tax incentives proportional to real Wisconsin jobs.
Join team Hong
Get email updates from Fran and the campaign team.
By submitting this form, you consent to receive donation asks, voter contact, and informational emails from Francesca Hong. Email frequency varies. You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email. Privacy Policy & Terms.
Working families keep this state running. It’s time our tax code worked for us.
Fran has a plan to make the super-rich and big corporations finally pay their fair share
We’ve all been there: We look up from our property tax bill or paystub to see a crumbling street and wonder what the hell we’re paying for. It gets worse when we learn that some corporations and billionaires aren’t even paying income taxes. The system — our government and their biggest donors — takes money from working people and funnels it to the super-rich. It’s time to hit the brakes — and Fran’s got the vision.
Wisconsinites deserve a government that delivers for them and a tax code that treats them fairly. But today, we don’t have either of those things. Just as Congress has cut programs like Medicaid to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the richest 1%, Wisconsin unfairly places the largest tax burdens on its poorest households. The lowest-earning 20% of Wisconsin households pay over 10% of their income in state and local taxes. But folks making over $1.3 million pay only 6.6%. When richer people aren’t asked to pay their fair share of taxes, it means our tax system is effectively handing them free money.
This tax system is unfair on working families and leaves our public services underfunded. Year after year, inadequate state education funding forces school districts to go to referendum just to keep the lights on. Small towns and big cities alike struggle to maintain roads and keep libraries open. The UW system and our technical colleges, once the pride of our state and the national leaders in public education, are shuttering campuses, removing majors, and eliminating research positions.
Fran believes that we can improve public services while making our tax code fairer. Our lives are getting more expensive, and we cannot keep — we cannot afford to keep — passing the buck. Enough is enough. This is Francesca Hong’s TAX THE RICH plan.
Here’s how it works
Tax the 1% to cut our property taxes & fund schools
Last year, Fran introduced legislation that would cut the average property tax bill by 44% while putting more money into public schools. It also includes reimbursing public schools for 90% of the actual cost of special education services.
Here’s how it would work: We stop squeezing working families and ask the extremely wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share. Fran’s plan adds a small 1% increase to the top tax bracket (for couples making over $431,000 or individuals making over $323,000) and creates a new tax bracket for millionaires and large corporations that kicks in on the millionth dollar of income or profit.
Rather than forcing school districts to go back to referendum and increasing property taxes on seniors and people with fixed incomes, we can fund education while making the system fairer.
Rebuild state INFRASTRUCTURE by taxing hidden wealth
Much of the wealth of the super-rich comes from investments that are never taxed. An estate tax makes sure that money gets taxed once before it passes to heirs who didn’t earn it. Wisconsin doesn’t have an estate tax, unlike many states. One way we can make Wisconsin’s tax code fairer is by introducing an estate tax on non-farmland estates valued at over $5 million. This will raise over $100 million in revenue per year. That’s money we could spend on public investments like free universal school meals or the Knowles-Nelson conservation program.
Local options for local funding
It’s not sustainable to build municipal spending on property taxes — and if you’ve driven on Wisconsin streets, it shows. Thousands of cities and counties around the country fund everything from fixing potholes to mental health services or entrepreneurship by diversifying their revenue streams, but Republicans have left Wisconsin communities behind. Fran has introduced legislation that would finally give municipalities and counties the ability to adopt progressive income taxes if approved through a public referendum.
Replace data center tax breaks with state investment
Wisconsin is going to spend $2 billion on tax breaks for data centers in the current biennial budget. Fran’s not opposed to helping companies that help Wisconsin — those that invest in our state and provide good jobs for Wisconsinites — but siphoning billions of dollars to parasitic polluters is peak irresponsibility. Fran’s CRANES & TRAINS lays out what that money could go toward instead:
- Union-built affordable housing and clean energy
- Community programs
- School construction
- High-speed rail
Join team Hong
Get email updates from Fran and the campaign team.
By submitting this form, you consent to receive donation asks, voter contact, and informational emails from Francesca Hong. Email frequency varies. You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email. Privacy Policy & Terms.