Unintended Consequences: Sales Tax Exemption and Shared Revenue

Wisconsin’s 2025-27 state budget introduced a consumer-friendly policy change: extending the sales tax exemption on residential electricity and natural gas year-round. But while this shift promises $178 million in savings for households, it delivers a fiscal hit to county governments that rely on sales tax revenue to fund essential services.

The latest Forward Analytics Spotlight report dives into the implications of this exemption—showing how it permanently lowers the revenue baseline for counties and alters shared revenue payments in the next fiscal year.

County by county differences are listed in the below table. Click here to read the full report.

Annual CMA data, including payments schedule for 2026 and 2027, can be found on the FA Shared Revenue tool, found here.