Rep Steffen Previews Tax-Free Retirement

unfortunately the state of Wisconsin is a next a net exporter of wealth uh 30% of Wisconsin's entire wealth is held in people who are aged 70 or older and our tax policy is driving those individuals with their wealth to the other states that have a tax-free retirement environment by doing so our economy suffer significantly 2third of our state economy is uh derived through consumer spending and when those retirees make choices outside of Wisconsin we lose the benefit from an economic perspective the second issue is our retirees grandmothers and grandfathers are part of the glue of our society and Community they are the ones who volunteer at our community uh locations they're the ones who are part of our Afterschool reading programs they are the ones who make a difference every single day through their volunteerism by driving them to other states for our tax policy we are losing that mortar that holds our community together third our retirees on fixed income are the ones who have been the most negatively impacted by the rising costs through inflation they simply do not have the way to absorb the increased costs 20% or more for food Fuel and housing when they are in an environment where the tax code is is stacked against them so by creating a tax-free retirement environment where all individuals with tax accounts over the from age 65 and on up up to $150,000 for joint filer will have a great opportunity for a bright future staying here in Wisconsin now the benefit to filers is incredible perhaps the largest for any demographic in State history the average filer who has retirement account and using this and choosing this uh this option will save $1,582 absolutely historic the state of Wisconsin did a great thing back in 2008 by making Social Security exempt from uh State uh income tax and so I'm hoping today we're taking that step to make an additional large group of our citizens taxfree during retirement and