The Economy and You #15: Who Pays More in Taxes?
The issue over who pays taxes and who does not continues to be a source of great debate and competing statistics. The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WTA) recently provided an analysis of data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to try and give an objective view. WTA looked at federal income taxes filed in 2010 for the 2009 tax year. These figures were broken down into eight specific income categories from under $15,000 of annual income to over $1 million in income, as well as three broad categories (annual income under $50,000, $50,000 to $200,000, and over $200,000).
The data in the chart below shows that while those filers with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) under $50,000 represented 66.1% of all returns filed and 22.6% of income earned, they only paid 7.0% of the taxes. For those who may be considered “middle class,” those filers earned over half of the income (51.7%) while paying 42.8% of the federal income taxes. This group filed 43.7 million returns which made up 31.1% of all returns filed. The 2.8% of filers who earned more than $200,000 paid 50.2% of the federal income taxes while collecting 25.8% of the adjusted gross income. From the numbers provided by the IRS and the analysis done by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, it would appear that the “rich” pay more than their share of federal income taxes.
- Who Pays the Taxes: % Returns v. Income v. Taxes
Most stories people read regarding who pays the taxes outline that the top income earners pay the majority of federal income taxes but make up the smallest number of tax returns filed. These stories often do not include the percentage of income earned. According to the data from the IRS, those filers who earned less than $100,000 in 2009 earned a greater percentage of adjusted gross income compared to the percentage of federal income tax they paid.
It would seem logical that if one specific group paid 50% of the income taxes, they would earn 50% of the income. The IRS data shows that this is not the case. Those who earned adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 or more collected 25.8% of the income but paid 50.2% of the taxes.
Some may argue that the higher income filers earned more because of capital gains in stocks and investments. While there is an impact on the performance for stocks and bonds, especially for middle and upper income ranges, adjusted gross income from investment rises and falls with the stock market. Income from salaries and wages is less volatile and does not rise and fall with the stock market.
In addition, if investment income is taxed at a lower marginal rate than salary and wage income, one could infer that those who comprise the higher income ranges would pay a smaller percentage of federal income tax compared to those whose income derived predominantly from salary and wages.
I would recommend Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance as a reference source when looking at state budget and tax issues (as well as other topics).
Treasurer’s Top 5: Juneau County
Here we are again at the beginning of a new week. We’ve been having a lot of success lately returning unclaimed property to its owners. This week we’d like to spotlight the top 5 people in Juneau County who have money/assets that belong to them, in hopes that they’ll claim it! Have you searched for your missing cash? (http://www.statetreasury.wisconsin.gov)
Juneau County
Diane Harris – Elroy
Don Weber – Wonewoc
Jax Garage – Mauston
Richard Donovan – Camp Douglas
David Sirotzki – Mauston
If you or someone you know is on this list, please let them know they need to make a claim with the office. They can also call us at 877-699-9211
Related articles
- More than $20 Million in Unclaimed Property Reported This Year (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- State Treasurer Continues Making National Headlines (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- Treasurer’s Top 5 – Kenosha County (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
La Crosse Tribune Highlights Our Efforts
Last Friday, the La Crosse Tribune ran a story highlighting our efforts to return millions of dollars in unclaimed property. They were interested in the large payout to the La Crosse resident last week – $224,000!
Click here for a link to that story.
Since the article ran in the paper as well as online, we have received 4400 claim requests. 185 of them were “fast track” claims meaning, the person making the claim typed in their social security number and it matched the number we already have in our system. Those people will get their checks in less than 10 days! We are returning $11,000 in fast track claims alone!
As you are gearing up for the holiday gift giving season…or maybe already did your shopping, you might want to check if you have any lost money sitting around!
Click here and start your search now!
Related articles
- State Treasurer Serves Up a Cornucopia of Cash (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
The leaves have fallen, temperatures are dropping, and once again, “Black Friday” is upon us. As most of you are aware, Black Friday takes place the day after Thanksgiving, and is both the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season and one of the busiest shopping days of the year. As we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, it’s important that we take the time to appreciate the impact of small businesses on our communities and on our lifestyles.
Tomorrow, November 26, is the 2nd annual “Small Business Saturday“, an effort by American Express to encourage us to shop at small businesses during this critical time of year. In addition to supporting smal businesses with your purchases tomorrow, I’d encourage everyone to read and share the following statistics with their friends and family. It’s important tat we remember just how much small businesses contribute to our economy.
Small firms:
• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
• Employ half of all private sector employees.
• Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
• Generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years.
• Create more than half of the nonfarm private GDP.
• Hire 43 percent of high tech workers ( scientists, engineers, computer programmers, and others).
• Are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises.
• Made up 97.5 percent of all identified exporters and produced 31 percent of export value in FY 2008.
• Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Census Bureau and Intl. Trade Admin.; Advocacy-funded research by Kathryn Kobe, 2007 (www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs299.pdf) and CHI Research, 2003 (www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs225.pdf);U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Are you looking to start a small business? The Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation provides many great tools for women and minorities looking to start a small business in Wisconsin. If you’re interested in getting started, check out their calendar of classes- 16 between now and Christmas – that will teach you about topics like business certification, credit score improvement, budgeting, Quickbooks, and many more.
Related Reading:
Hitting the Jackpot in El Dorado
Last evening, El Dorado, Wisconsin took on the golden sheen of its mythical namesake, becoming one of the latest communities to benefit from a loan from the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.
Secretary of State Doug La Follette and I had the distinct pleasure of presenting a $1.2 million check to the to the Town Supervisors. They will use the money to build a new fire house and municipal building.
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- Photo courtesy: Board of Commissioners of Public Lands
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- Photo courtesy: Board of Commissioners of Public Lands
Photo 1: Seated l to r: Town ofEldorado- Supervisor Bill Averbeck, Town Chairman Gary Miller, and Supervisor Dennis Mueller.
Standing: BCPL Chairman and Secretary of State Doug La Follette and BCPL Commissioner and State Treasurer Kurt Schuller
Photo 2: Seated l to r: Town of El Dorado- Supervisor Bill Averbeck, Town Chairman Gary Miller, and Supervisor Dennis Mueller.
Standing l to r: Rep. Richard Spanbauer, Rep. Jeremy Theisfeldt, BCPL Chairman and Secretary of State Doug La Follette, BCPL Commissioner and State Treasurer Kurt Schuller, Sen. Jessica King and BCPL Loan Analyst Richard Sneider.
Related articles:
New Fire House/Municipal Building Thanks to the State
$1.5 Million for Beloit from the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands
State Treasurer Serves Up a Cornucopia of Cash
Claims examiners with the Wisconsin State Treasury returned $492,800 on Monday to thankful Wisconsin residents who found money in the Unclaimed Property Database. 2 of the 98 claims returned made up the majority of the nearly half million dollars.
A woman in the La Crosse area discovered she had a little less than $244,000 and a man in West Allis will be getting a check for nearly $115,000! The other 96 claims ranged from as little as $5.00 to as much as $22,000.
Even if they open up the envelope and it’s a check for just $5.00, I’m sure they are thankful for finding it. We just received another $20 million in unclaimed property this year and there are quite a few folks who would have a joyous holiday season if they claimed their cash and got a check from my office!
Click here to see a spreadsheet
What we return daily, monthly and a portion of our eBay Auction proceeds
detailing the amount of unclaimed property returned by the State Treasurer’s Office since 2003.
Also, our November eBay auction is currently underway. It ends Monday November 28th at noon. Consider jewelry or coins as Christmas gifts this year and make your bids now. Since January of 2011, our monthly auction has turned the contents of safe deposit boxes into more than $200,000 in cash waiting to be claimed.
You can find a link to our eBay page here or if you want to search for any missing money you might have, visit www.statetreasury.wi.gov.
Related articles
- That Really is Wisconsin’s State Treasurer Calling! (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- State Treasury on Pace to Shatter Unclaimed Property Record (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- Facebook, Twitter finds Northern Wisconsin Woman with $225,000 of Unclaimed Property (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- More Than $200,000 Claimed at the Wisconsin State Fair (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- Get Your Money Faster from the State Treasury! (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- More than $15,000 Returned in Burlington Wisconsin (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- More than $20 Million in Unclaimed Property Reported This Year (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
Treasurer’s Top 5: La Crosse County
La Crosse County has a lot of unclaimed property floating around out there, and these are just the top 5. If you’re reading this you may also have funds owed to you. Please take a minute to visit our website to find out if we can return unclaimed property to you or someone you know. (http://www.statetreasury.wisconsin.gov)
La Crosse County
Robert Reale – La Crosse
Louis Robinson – La Crosse
William Panka – La Crosse
Irne Bloedern – La Crosse
Henry Rust – La Crosse
If you or someone you know is on this list, please let them know they need to make a claim with the office. They can also call us at 877-699-9211
Related articles
- Treasurer’s Top 5 – Kenosha County (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- More than $20 Million in Unclaimed Property Reported This Year (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- State Treasurer Continues Making National Headlines (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
New Fire House/Municipal Building for Eldorado thanks to the State!
Tomorrow, I will be in Eldorado with Secretary of State Doug La Follette to present the town council with a check from the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. This check will help the town build a new fire house and municipal building.
The $1.2 million is a loan from the State via the Common School Trust Fund. To find out more about the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands and what the BCPL does for the state, please click here.
To read a preview article on the check presentation and what the money will be used for, click here!
Related articles
- $1.5 Million for Beloit from the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- Unclaimed Property and your public school libraries (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
Remember to Pass Your Heirlooms to Your Heirs!
Every month, we sell the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes on eBay. You can visit our eBay store by clicking here. You can see this month’s auction items by visiting our website - click here.
There are many times we come across items that were meant to be passed on to children, grandchildren…all the way through generations. But, for some unknown reason, the items end up in safe deposit boxes and, if the box rent doesn’t get paid, we get it. Once we sell the items of value, we put the money back into the unclaimed property account until it gets claimed by the rightful owner or heir.
But selling heirlooms isn’t something we like to do here.
Here’s an example from the November auction. The person bought an 1884 Carson City GSA re-issued Morgan dollar for $60. Today, it’s worth a few hundred. He wrote a note to his family to pass the coin down and write the person’s name on the back of the card as it goes through the generations. But, this person put it into the safe deposit box and, at some point, lost track of it. This goes up for auction on Monday. A family heirloom….gone.
You might ask, “Why don’t you just keep the items?” That’s a good question. Simple answer, no room. We have two completely full vaults and starting in January, we will get another 400 or more abandoned safe deposit boxes from banks across the state. We hold onto the items for, at least, another 3 years. Right now, we are selling items we received in 2007…and those boxes were abandoned in 2002!
An 1884 CC Morgan in the November Auction - a family heirloom
There is never a good time to talk with your loved ones about death and what happens when you pass. But, if you don’t tell them you have saved items for them in a safe deposit box, they will probably never know and an heirloom you wanted to pass on might just disappear to the the highest bidder.
Related articles
- Monthly eBay Auction Begins Sunday (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- July eBay Auction About to Begin! (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- November 2011 Auction & Black Friday, Cyber Monday (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- Show Me The Money! Returning $10,000 to a church in Neenah! (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- September 2011 Auction in the Books (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- Gold & Silver Sales Shatter eBay Auction Record (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- More than $15,000 Returned in Burlington Wisconsin (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
Treasurer’s Top 5: Iron County
Our search for the Top 5 people who have money/assets that belong to them by county takes us way up north today. All the way to Iron County. These 5 people have unclaimed property that we would love to give back to them. You may have some as well, so please check today. (http://www.statetreasury.wisconsin.gov)
Iron County
Daniel Klein – Mercer
Clemtine Lavigne – Hurley
Edith Kulak – Hurley
Evelyn Shea – Mercer
Anna Gustafson – Hurley
If you or someone you know is on this list, please let them know they need to make a claim with the office. They can also call us at 877-699-9211
Related articles
- Treasurer’s Top 5 – Kenosha County (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- More than $20 Million in Unclaimed Property Reported This Year (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- State Treasurer Continues Making National Headlines (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
Governor signs AB 275
At 9:30 this morning, AB 275 cleared its last hurdle. In a private ceremony in his office, Governor Scott Walker signed the bill into law. As was mentioned in previous posts (links at bottom), AB 275 will allow the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands to make revenue obligation loans in addition to the general obligation loans that the Board already makes. This gives municipalities more options to choose from when deciding how to finance projects, and could increase the number of loans made by the BCPL, thus potentially increasing BCPL’s contribution to the Common School Trust Fund (which provides money to public school libraries).
I believe I speak for my fellow commissioners, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and Secretary of State Doug LaFollette when I congratulate everyone involved in this bi-partisan legislation. BCPL Executive Secretary Tia Nelson and Deputy Secretary Tom German were present at every stage of this bill’s life, from inception to signing. They are to be commended. AB 275′s authors and co-sponsors also deserve special recognition:
Assembly author: Rep. Ed Brooks (R-50)
Assembly Co-sponsors: Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-77), Rep Howard Marklein (R-51), Rep. Mark Pocan (D-78), Rep. Joe Knilans (R-44), Rep. Janet Bewley (D-74), Rep. Scott Krug (R-72), Rep. Cory Mason (D-62), Rep. Al Ott (R-3), Rep. Robert Turner (D-61), Rep. Andre Jacque (R-2), Rep. Keith Ripp (R-47), and Rep. Fred Clark (D-42)
Senate author: Sen. Dale Schultz (R-17)
Senate Co-sponsors: Sen. Lena Taylor (D-4) and Sen. Jim Holperin (D-12)
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If you’d like to know more about one of Wisconsin’s oldest agencies, visit the BCPL’s home page.
View the following posts to trace AB 275′s history:
Treasurer’s Top 5: Douglas County
We’d love to give the people of Douglas County their unclaimed property. Here’s the top 5 people in Douglas County who have money/assets that belong to them,but they’re not even aware of it. Please search for your missing cash today. (http://www.statetreasury.wisconsin.gov)
Douglas County
Susan Wangerine – Superior
Magda Watilo – Superior
Clare Evans – Superior
Esther Nasvall – South Range
Eillen Hellerstedt – Superior
If you or someone you know is on this list, please let them know they need to make a claim with the office. They can also call us at 877-699-9211
Related articles
- State Treasurer Continues Making National Headlines (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- Treasurer’s Top 5 – Kenosha County (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
November 2011 Auction & Black Friday, Cyber Monday
The November Auction will begin Monday November 21 at Noon and end the following Monday at the same time. If you’ve never seen our eBay Auction, please click here and visit our eBay Page. You can also click here and it will take you to our website information page on the auction and has a link to October’s Auction items. By the end of the week, November’s items will be on that page and you will get a three day head start on seeing what you can bid on and pricing them out. You can also sign up for our monthly emails letting you know the auction is coming and what’s in the auction. We have 4000 people that subscribe to it!
Image via CrunchBase
This year’s auction will be happening on Black Friday and the mythical Cyber Monday. Would you consider buying used jewelry for your loved for Christmas if it were cheaper than what you might pay at the store? If so, you’ll want to check out this month’s auction. We have 36 lots, about half are jewelry; many are gold items and there are a few diamond rings.
Do you have a numismatist in your family? Do they love getting valuable coins? Consider the auction! It’s fun to get into the bidding wars and see just how high some of the items will go! Christmas is just around the corner!
I’ll be showing pictures of all the items periodically this week – here and on our Twitter account as well as Facebook. Be sure to check it out!
Related articles
- October eBay Auction Final Numbers (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- Gold & Silver Sales Shatter eBay Auction Record (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- Monthly eBay Auction Begins Sunday (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
More than $20 Million in Unclaimed Property Reported This Year
It’s Holder Reporting Season for the Office of the State Treasurer. We have received $20,642,148 in unclaimed property in 2011. But we are still inputting more reports sent to us by businesses. There’s 13 more boxes in the vault and my staff is working quickly to get the information into our database.
This information will be available in 2012 and will appear in newspapers starting in April. These are the lists of names you see every year in your local paper!
We created a video recently to help “Holders” report properly with our office. You can watch it via our YouTube Channel if interested. Most Holders have said it helped. It can be confusing to report properly and when there’s a deadline involved, it can get even more hectic.
Holder Reporting Coordinator Shannon Churchill and Financial Specialist Wesley Stefonek are inputting all the Unclaimed Property Information into the database...they have a few more boxes to go through!
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More than $15,000 Returned in Burlington Wisconsin
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When your job is to give people back money they may have lost or forgotten about…or didn’t even know about…it’s a great gig, right? It’s even better when you can promote it so that the people who should be searching for their cash actually realize that what we do isn’t a scam.
Trust me…it’s hard to get people to believe that a state agency wants to RETURN money. But Good Morning America took notice a few months ago of our efforts to reunite millions of dollars with Wisconsin residents and businesses and decided to feature the Wisconsin State Treasury on their series, “Show Me The Money!”
They were with us as we returned $50,000 to the Wisconsin Humane Society left to them in a woman’s trust. They also came with us as we surprised a church congregation in Neenah with $10,000 in savings bonds left by a parishioner who had passed and never told the church she had the bonds in her safe deposit box. So, we weren’t too surprised when they called us and wanted to try something new – surprise someone with unclaimed cash and do it LIVE on national television.
OK…we were a little surprised. They also wanted us to make it happen in 3 weeks!
Luckily, I have a staff that can turn on a dime who do their jobs quickly and efficiently…they found the perfect people to feature on television!
David Corbett and his wife Sandy of Gabby’s Palace in Burlington.
They had insurance dividends for $13,345.20 sitting in unclaimed property. Somehow, in the past 5 years, it had been lost. I’ll give it to David…when our office called, he was skeptical and after a few phone calls to make sure we were legit, decided to take the leap of faith and be surprised very early in the morning on national television.
Our Unclaimed Property manager, Mary Celentani, looked for other Burlington businesses that may have had missing funds and found the Police Department, the Fire Department and the Chamber of Commerce! We got them all together without telling them how much money they were getting and let the staff of Good Morning America work their magic!
Here’s the story on Good Morning America from this morning.
We had a lot of fun this morning, as you can see by the pictures. Hopefully, all this media attention will remind folks to search for their unclaimed cash at our website! www.statetreasury.wi.gov! Just click the magnifying glass!
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- Show Me The Money! Returning $10,000 to a church in Neenah! (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
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- State Treasurer Continues Making National Headlines (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
Wisconsin Town to Get Cash Surprises LIVE on National Television!
I will be heading to an undisclosed Wisconsin town on Wednesday November 9th with several surprises for several different people and businesses. ABC’s Good Morning America will be with me as I do what I do best, return unclaimed cash, and the whole event will air LIVE!
This is the 3rd time I will be on Good Morning America as part of the “Show Me the Money” series. Good Morning America is highlighting ways people can either make money in these tough economic times or search for unclaimed cash that could be theirs!
The Unclaimed Property Unit and my efforts to return money were highlighted last night by NBC 15 in Madison as well as FOX 6 in Milwaukee and FOX 11 in Green Bay. That exposure generated more than 1200 claim form requests online from people in those television markets as well as more than 500 phone calls to help with searches and more than $4,500 returned in Fast Track claims online. These are claims of less than $1,000 where the claimant entered their social security number online at our website and it matched what we had in our system. Those folks will get a check mailed within 10 days!
Have you searched for money online at www.statetreasury.wi.gov?
Good Morning America airs on ABC from 7:00am to 9:00am.
Be sure to tune in tomorrow!
- That Really is Wisconsin’s State Treasurer Calling! (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- Facebook, Twitter finds Northern Wisconsin Woman with $225,000 of Unclaimed Property (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- State Treasurer Continues Making National Headlines (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
Treasurer’s Top 5: Brown County
We’re pleased to announce this weeks top 5 people in Brown County who have money/assets that belong to them but they don’t know it! We hope to hear from you soon.
Brown County
Loraine Bibbs – Allovez
Judilyn Mcgown – Green Bay
Gediminas Andriunas – Green Bay
Dwight Holubar – Green Bay
James Melotte – Green Bay
If you or someone you know is on this list, please let them know they need to make a claim with the office. They can also call us at 877-699-9211
That Really is Wisconsin’s State Treasurer Calling!
NBC 15 in Madison profiled my office last night on their 6PM newscast and our efforts trying to return $380 million to Wisconsin residents and businesses – current and former.
I spend a few hours everyday while in the office calling people who have lost money sitting in our database. I leave a lot of messages and a lot of people probably think it’s a prank call. I also get a lot of people who say, “Really? The State Treasurer calling to GIVE me back money? No way!”
But, it’s true. The Unclaimed Property Unit’s main goal is to give back as much unclaimed property as it can to the rightful owners. I decided to jump right in and start being proactive by calling some of the more than 1 million names in our database.
So, when you get a message from “State Treasurer Kurt Schuller”, give me a call back…if not me, call the office and talk to one of our wonderful claims examiners who will work hard to get you back your money if your name is on the list!
Check online at www.statetreasury.wisconsin.gov or call us at 877-699-9211!
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- Facebook, Twitter finds Northern Wisconsin Woman with $225,000 of Unclaimed Property (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
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NBC 15 in Madison to Profile Wisconsin State Treasurer’s Office
Make sure to tune into NBC 15 tonight if you live in the Madison Television Market. Reporter Rachelle Baillon spoke with us last week about our efforts to return unclaimed cash to Wisconsin residents – current and former – as well as businesses throughout the state.
If you can’t watch it or don’t live in the Madison Market, it will be on our YouTube Channel tomorrow.
Our efforts aren’t going unnoticed as you will see not only tonight on NBC 15, but again later this week on a national level. But, I’ll have more on that later in the week!
NBC 15 will air the story at 6:00PM on Monday November 7th, 2011. There’s a preview on their video player on the right side of their home page RIGHT NOW!
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- More Than $200,000 Claimed at the Wisconsin State Fair (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
- Treasurer’s Top 5 – Kenosha County (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
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AB 275 nears last hurdle
I’m proud to announce that AB 275 has passed the Senate by 31-0 vote on October 27th. As you’ll remember a couple of weeks ago, I told you about AB 275, a bill that would allow the BCPL to make revenue obligation loans in certain circumstances, in addition to the general obligation loans that the Board currently makes.
The final step will now be the governor’s signature to sign it into law.
As always, I will continue to keep you updated.
The Economy and You #14: CPI and Inflation
In previous articles, I wrote about a national Consumer Price Index (CPI) that represents the spending patterns and I described how the data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calculates a regional CPI as well. Still, CPI data can be used to measure inflation between two time periods as well as determine past and future dollar value.
To calculate the rate of inflation between two time periods, calculate the percent change in the appropriate CPI index from the first period to the second period. Here is a simple example. Let’s say that the CPI for the Milwaukee-Racine area for 2005 is 172.6 and the CPI for 2010 is 186.3. The change in the CPI index is 13.7 (186.3-172.6=13.7). To compute the percentage change we take the change and divide it by the original CPI index number and multiply by 100. So the percent change would be 13.7 divided by 172.6 multiplied by 100, or 7.94%.
Now if you want to know what $100 in 2001 would be worth today, you will take the current CPI index, divide it by the 2001 CPI index and multiply by 100. For example if the 2001 CPI was 156.4 and the 2011 CPI index is 189.1, then $100 in 2001 would be worth $120.91 [(189.1/156.4) x 100 = 120.91].
To calculate the future dollar value into present day dollars, we make a similar calculation. If we the example that the 2011 CPI index is 189.1 and the forecasted CPI index in 2021 is 208.4, we will be able to estimate that $100 in 2011 will be worth $90.74 in 2021 because 189.1 divided by 208.4 multiplied by 100 will equal 90.74.
So as I described in my first CPI article, the CPI affects nearly all Americans because of the many ways it is used. Most use the CPI as an economic indicator by measuring the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. Still, the CPI can also be used as a means of adjusting dollar values (future or past) so people can find out what a dollar today is worth 10 years in the future, or what a dollar 3 years ago is worth today. The consumer price index has many uses and will continue to be used as a measure of the health of our economy.
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Treasurer’s Top 5 – Jefferson County
It’s that time of the week again! Time to list the Top 5 Unclaimed Properties for one of the 72 Wisconsin Counties!
Today, we visit Jefferson County
Jefferson County Top 5
Mary Brawn – Fort Atkinson
Peter Boettcher – Sullivan
Justine Gorniak – Fort Atkinson
Jason Workman – Watertown
Sergio Reyes – Watertown
Do you recognize these names? If it’s you, file a claim RIGHT NOW at www.statetreasury.wi.gov – click on the magnifying glass on the front page and follow the directions. If you know these people or are a relative or heir, let them know or fill out the forms yourself!
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- October a Record Month at the State Treasury (wistatetreasury.wordpress.com)
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