Wealthy Wisconsin Congressional Representative Paid $0.0 in State Taxes

Regressive Romney-Ryan Tax Agenda Proposes More of the Same

MADISON, Wis. — A news report revealing Wisconsin Congressperson Tom Petri paid no state income taxes in 2002, 2003, 2004 or 2005 is yet another example of how the current tax code, and policies advocated by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, favors wealthy investors over the middle class, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross.

“Rep. Petri paid no state taxes over four years, yet in those very same years he was paid over $600,000 in Congressional salary by taxpayers and reported tens of millions of dollars in net worth. If you need an example of what thirty years of Republican tax policy that puts wealthy investors before the middle class has done, this is it,” said Ross.

In response to questions about how a person of such significant wealth could end up paying no state taxes over four years, Petri’s spokesperson claimed that Rep. Petri sustained foreign investment losses as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Ross noted that the tax policies advocated by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would only further skew the tax system against wage earners in favor of the wealthy and those, like Romney himself, whose fortunes are based largely on income derived from investments.

According to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, Romney’s proposed tax policies cutting income tax rates, maintaining tax preferences for income from investments and dividends and eliminating the estate tax would result in massive tax reductions for the wealthiest and higher taxes on middle class and working families.

Ross concluded, “The people of Wisconsin who get up every day and go to work for a living aren’t going to feel much sympathy for Rep. Petri’s foreign investment portfolio losses, or for the tax policies of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan that take more from them to give to the wealthiest Americans.”

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