,. Pulling Apart 2012: Wisconsin’s Growing Income Inequality. COWS, 2012.
According to a new report by COWS and the Wisconsin Budget Project, the income disparity between Wisconsin’s richest and poorest families continues to widen. This analysis of Wisconsin Department of Revenue data finds that Wisconsin’s richest residents have experienced dramatic increases in inflation-adjusted income since the mid-1990s, while middle- and lower-income Wisconsinites saw their incomes stagnate or decrease.
Between 1996 and 2010, the bottom 40 percent of Wisconsin earners experienced an average decrease of $2,407 in their adjusted gross income, measured in 2012 dollars. The top fifth of income tax filers saw an increase in earnings of more than $17,000 over this period.