Must be nice to be a multi-millionaire Republican U.S. Senator…
How did a multimillionaire like Johnson, who makes $174,000 a year as a U.S. senator, pay only a couple of thousand dollars in state income taxes just a few years back?
To be exact, state records say Johnson, an Oshkosh Republican, paid Wisconsin a total of $2,105 in state income taxes for 2017.
For context, a married Wisconsin couple who jointly reported a taxable income of $40,000 — that is, their adjusted gross income minus all deductions and credits — would have had a 2017 state income tax bill of $2,107, two dollars more than what Johnson paid.
The state had a graduated tax rate of 4% to 7.65% in 2017.
Now consider this: In his federal financial filings, Johnson reported personal income ranging from $276,412 to $2.2 million in 2017 — on top of his Senate salary. That means he had a minimum income of $450,000 in the same year that he paid $2,105 in state income taxes.
It seems clear Sen. Johnson needs to be replaced in the United States Senate by someone who has a better understanding of the day-to-day struggles of average Wisconsinites.
The wealthy lobbied hard for all the “loopholes” in the tax code that benefits them.