Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor Tom Tiffany wrote a bill while in the State Legislature that would have reduced his own taxes, but would have increased property taxes for homeowners, while hiding his own assets from the state Ethics Commission.
Years before Gov. Tony Evers signed Act 12 in 2023, which in-part eliminated the personal property tax, Tiffany proposed eliminating the personal property tax, but without a solution for the problem of increased property taxes as a result of the bill. Evers’ solution was millions in state aid to local municipalities to offset the losses.
Tiffany officially proposed the bill in 2015. An analysis from the bipartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau indicated taxes on the average Wisconsin home would go up 2.7%.
At the time, Wisconsin Realtors Association vice president Tom Larson told legislators: “Eliminating this tax by increasing taxes on homeowners and other owners of real property is not the answer.”
The League of Wisconsin Municipalities and the Wisconsin Counties Association also urged legislators not to shift more of the tax burden onto homeowners.
Tiffany has owned a billboard in rural Wisconsin since 1995, which was subject to personal property taxes, but he failed to disclose to the Ethics Commission that he owned it for several years, including while writing the bill.
According to state law, billboards are defined as personal property. Tiffany’s billboard is near Cassian in Oneida County. The billboard has advertised the Wildwood Wildlife Park in recent years. Tiffany’s now-defunct business address was about 12 miles away.
Tiffany reported the billboard on his 2025 state financial disclosure and has reported it to federal regulators, but he did not report it to the state Ethics Commission prior to last year, including during his time in the State Legislature while authoring bills that would financially benefit himself.
In addition to the billboard, Tiffany owned business equipment and fixtures through his business that were subject to the personal property tax, according to state law at the time.
Tiffany operated Willow Inc. from 1991 to 2019. According to a legal public notice found in LexisNexis, Tiffany listed inventory, like computer equipment, as collateral for debt for Willow Inc.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Tiffany and his wife, Chris, operated their tour boat business on the Willow Flowage in Oneida County from 1991 to 2006, then moved it to the Wisconsin River in Rhinelander in 2007. They leased the ‘Wilderness Queen’ boat in 2012. He said that Willow Inc. operated on the Willow Flowage while Wisconsin River Cruises, Inc., operated on the Wisconsin River in Rhinelander. The business did not operate in 2006 while preparations were underway for relocation, Tiffany said. He added that he had no state income tax liability in 2019 due to depreciation on the boat and other business equipment.”
According to attorney John F. D’Jock, “Wisconsin law previously required personal property tax be paid on certain furniture, fixtures, and equipment—among other types of personal property. However, with the enactment of numerous exemptions over the years, few items traditionally considered to be personal property were still taxed. The personal property tax became a patchwork system with the state collecting fewer dollars year over year, when adjusted for inflation.”
However that changed in 2023, when Evers signed Act 12, which eliminated the business personal property tax.
Billboards used to be subject to the real property tax, but in 2013, Tiffany voted for passage of former Gov. Scott Walker’s budget, which changed the way billboards were classified for tax purposes, ruling them as personal property instead of real property.
“In what critics are calling a giveaway to out-of-state corporations, municipalities in Wisconsin will be restricted from taxing billboard owners under a provision in the state budget Bill,” the Wisconsin State Journal wrote at the time. “The budget awaiting Gov. Scott Walker’s signature changes the way billboards are classified for tax purposes. It’s estimated the change will shift about $2 million in taxes statewide annually from billboard owners to other property taxpayers.”
Tiffany’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.