Another budget passes without progress

As a 2010 candidate for governor, Scott Walker said that as the state's chief executive, he would aim to make Wisconsin more like havens for retirees.

"I will work to begin phasing out the state tax on retirement income to help keep investment capital in Wisconsin instead of watching it go to states like Florida and Arizona,” he promised.

But a question-and-answer section on the state Department of Revenue's website still reads:

"Are my retirement benefits taxable? If you are a full-year resident of Wisconsin, generally the same amount of your pension and annuity income that is taxable for federal tax purposes is taxable by Wisconsin. If you are a part-year resident of Wisconsin, the pension and annuity income you receive while a Wisconsin resident is generally taxable in the same manner as it is for federal tax purposes."

Walker press secretary Tom Evenson noted that Walker's 2013-"15 budget continues a reduction in state tax that began in 2009 when Wisconsin adopted federal limits on taxes that apply on pension and IRA contributions.

But that dates to an action by former Gov. Jim Doyle, not Walker, and does not move the state toward eliminating the state tax on retirement income.

Evenson also argued that seniors, like other taxpayers, benefit from the across-the-board in income tax rates contained in the 2013-"15 budget and that "this is a beginning to phasing out state tax on retirement income."

But there has been no measure targeted toward phasing out completely the income tax on retirement income. We keep our rating at Stalled.