Brian Dake

While the vast majority of consumers will file their taxes and receive any refunds due without incident, an unlucky few will learn during the process that returns have already been filed in their names by scammers.

If you run into problems when you file, you may be a victim of tax identity theft. The following are indications that someone may have misused your identity to file a fraudulent return:

• multiple returns were filed under your Social Security number,
• you receive a letter or refund check regarding a return you did not file, or
• you owe additional taxes or are facing collection actions for a year you did not file a return.

The risk of tax identity theft is very real in Wisconsin. In recent years, tax identity theft has been a key element of identity theft complaints received by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP).

“The best way to protect yourself from the risk of tax identity theft is to keep your financial and
personally identifiable information (such as your Social Security number, driver’s license number, bank account numbers, etc.) under lock and key throughout the year,” said Michelle Reinen, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Before you file, you can check whether a 2017 Wisconsin income tax return has been filed in your
name by visiting the Wisconsin Department of Revenue website (https://revenue.wi.gov; click on the “Online Services” link at the top of the homepage).

If you believe that you may be the victim of tax identity theft, report the suspected fraud by phone to the IRS (1-800-829-0433) and the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (1-608-266-2486).(NOTE: The IRS advises taxpayers to continue paying their taxes and filing their returns even if they suspect that they may be victims of identity theft.)

DATCP’s Consumer Protection Bureau offers a Tax ID Theft packet online (https://datcp.wi.gov) to assist consumers with next steps to protect against additional harm, and callers to the agency’s Consumer Protection Hotline (1-800-422-7128) can inquire about ways to further protect their identities.

According to estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Survey of Occupational injuries and Illnesses (SOII), there were 82,700 total injuries and illnesses reported by Wisconsin employers in 2016, an increase from the 78,800 total injuries and illnesses reported for 2015. The rate of injury and illness rose from 3.6 in 2015 to 3.8 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers.

SOII is the largest work injury data survey conducted nationwide. The Wisconsin BLS program collects data annually from a representative sample of 6,000 establishments, with a 97% survey response rate.

Summary Key Findings:

• Private industry incident rate increased from 3.6 to 3.7. State and local government total incident rate decreased from 4.2 to 4.1.

• Manufacturing, professional and business services, and state and local government sectors show declines in rates from the prior year, while all other industries remained constant or showed increased rates.

• The number of cases increased across summary case types from 2015 to 2016 with the exception of job transfer or restriction cases: cases with days away, job transfer, or restriction (DART) increased from 39,600 to 41,800; cases with days away from work (DAFW) from 21,800 to 24,300; other recordable cases (ORC) from 39,200 to 40,800. Cases with job transfer or restriction (DJTR) only fell slightly from 17,800 to 17,500.

• Public sector sub-industries with the highest injury rates include: Local government Heavy and civil engineering construction (11.3), Local government Utilities (7.7), and Local government Transit and ground passenger transportation (6.9).

• Private sector sub-industries with the highest injury rates include: Leather and allied product
manufacturing (11.8), Couriers and messengers (7.4), and Construction of buildings (7.0).

Wisconsin’s school funding system is doing better than other states. That’s according to a recently released Wisconsin Policy Forum report  that ranks the state 16th in adequate spending and ninth in fair distribution, based on data from 2014.

The “School finance: Here vs. Elsewhere,” report from the public policy think tank comes out more than a month after the first meeting of a bipartisan legislative commission to examine school funding. Wisconsin schools get funding from a combination of state, federal, and local aid.

The Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding will gather information and draft a plan to update the state’s school funding system. The commission hopes to complete the plan by the next state budget in 2019.

Wisconsin Policy Forum research director Dale Knapp said it’s important for the Legislature to take a step back and examine the state’s funding model prior to changes.

“There may be flaws in our system,” Knapp said. “There may be things that we need to fix, but essentially, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Compared to everyone else, our system looks pretty good.”

The report also calls for simplifying the current school funding system. Knapp said when voters go to the polls they’re making decisions about school funding, and it needs to be more understandable.

Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, co-chairs the legislative commission. He agreed simplifying the funding system should be a priority.

“Especially when you have school districts going to referendums, it’s pretty difficult for, you know, citizens to understand whether they need more money when the formula is so complex,” Kitchens said. “I really think that there are very few people in the state that completely understand the funding formula.”

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Yesterday, Governor Scott Walker today called for a special session of the Wisconsin Legislature to pass Wisconsin Works for Everyone welfare reform legislation authored by Speaker Robin Vos (R – Rochester) and Senator Chris Kapenga (R – Delafield).

“With more people working in Wisconsin than ever before, we can’t afford to have anyone on the sidelines: we need everyone in the game,” said Governor Walker. “That’s why I am calling a special session to take up our Wisconsin Works for Everyone welfare reform plan. We want to remove barriers to work and make it easier to get a job, while making sure public assistance is available for those who truly need it. Wisconsin is going to lead the way on welfare reform.”

The Wisconsin Works for Everyone welfare reform plan comprehensively addresses welfare reform. Several key initiatives include reforms to Wisconsin’s FoodShare system and the FoodShare Employment and Training (FSET) program, which provides hands-on job training and job search resources and has helped more than 24,000 FoodShare recipients learn an employable skillset and reenter the workforce.

Proposed reforms to the FSET program under the Wisconsin Works for Everyone plan include requiring participation in the FSET program for able-bodied adults; an increase in the work requirement for FoodShare recipients from 20 hours per week to 30 hours per week; requiring FSET participants to pass a drug test and providing treatment for those who fail; implement photo ID for FoodShare participants; and incentivizing businesses participating in the program to encourage expanding their training offerings to serve more workers.

Additional proposed reforms under the plan include opening health savings accounts for people receiving medical assistance; providing monthly advance payments for Earned Income Tax Credit recipients instead of the current system in which recipients wait for their tax return; requiring public assistance recipients to remain current on child support payments; and establishing asset limits for people receiving certain forms of public assistance. Several items in this welfare reform package would require federal approval or federal law change.

The Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office estimated that Wisconsin would reach June 2019 with $385 million in its main account, better than the $248 million that had been previously expected.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau said that the improved projection was a result of tax collections coming in $76 million higher than expected and the state spending $98 million less than expected because of favorable debt refinancing.

State tax revenue is doing well enough on other fronts to make up for a $49 million the Walker administration predicts will be lost as a result of the federal tax cuts signed last month by President Donald Trump. The decrease largely results from allowing businesses to immediately deduct some purchases of equipment and other goods.

New food safety regulations take effect January 26 for Wisconsin’s biggest growers of fresh market fruit and vegetables, but regulators will focus on educating farmers during the first year of regulation. Enforcement will not begin in earnest until 2019.

The new regulations, part of the sweeping federal Food Safety Modernization Act, take effect this month for growers with more than $500,000 in annual revenue from food sales. Smaller farms have another year or two years to comply, depending on their size. Growers should focus on meeting training requirements first, so that they understand the new requirements.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to implement the changes. FDA has emphasized that the 2018 focus is on outreach to farmers. A team from DATCP has been traveling throughout the state since last June to answer growers’ questions at farm shows and conferences. The team will continue these efforts in 2018, and also work with outside organizations to provide mandatory training.

The mandatory training course, developed by the Produce Safety Alliance and Cornell University and approved by the FDA, covers the scope of the regulations and how growers can meet the requirements.

Regulatory inspections for large farms will begin in 2019. Before then, farms can request a “readiness review,” a non-regulatory assessment by a team of state officials, extension agents and FDA produce experts to gauge a farm’s readiness for inspection.