The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, or WISTAX, is a self-described “independent” organization that, according to its website, advocates for “better government and an informed citizenry.”

WISTAX is a consistent media source for stories on state government, tax policy, education funding and state budget issues; its in-house reports receive statewide media attention with little refutation for its facts, figures and conclusions.

In reality, WISTAX research, comment and analysis reinforces the conservative agenda of less corporate taxes and less public investment under the guise of independent and non-ideological research.

How influential is this organization? Consider that WISTAX has single-handedly led the creation of the myth Wisconsin’s tax burden is well-above the national average. It has done this by isolating a handful of taxes and drawing its conclusion without regard to context.

Conservative politicians, corporate lobbyists and sympathetic opinion writers use this research to justify additional tax loopholes for big business and spending cuts that reduce government investment in programs that benefit the middle class and those less fortunate.

Is it any surprise, given that the current board of directors of WISTAX includes former Republican officials, well-known conservative activists and heavyweight Republican donors?

Nearly 93 percent of the political giving by the current members of the WISTAX board of directors has gone to Republican or conservative candidates. Six of the twelve current members of the WISTAX board have served or currently serve on the board of directors of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s most powerful conservative, pro-corporate lobby group.

WISTAX main products are its publications, the Wisconsin Taxpayer and Focus, in which it uses selective data to reinforce its conservative anti-corporate tax agenda, calling for less taxes on the wealthy and corporations and, using rhetoric eerily similar to Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. Over and over, only the cost of government is emphasized, never the context of the benefits to all.

WISTAX reports and studies are referenced by conservative elected officials, interest groups and partisans, as well as mainstream media outlets across the state. Republican lawmakers cite WISTAX facts and figures time and again in official press releases and statements to the media. Conservative front-groups like the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute often point to WISTAX publications in its effort to push its ideology of unregulated free markets, and unsurprisingly, WMC cites WISTAX reports in its communications with businesses and legislators.

WISTAX has mastered the art of presenting just enough accurate information to make its conclusions seem reasonable. But these are not the only conclusions one can draw from the complex processes of budgeting and taxation. WISTAX greatest success has been in convincing its audience to look at the world only through the lens in which it provides.

All of these lead the reader to believe Wisconsin businesses are unfairly taxed, when the reality is that corporate taxes in Wisconsin are well-below the national average, while the return on education dollars is among the best in the nation – providing Wisconsin’s businesses with a well-rounded and well-educated workforce.

To skeptics, ask yourself: When was the last piece of WISTAX research that led you to the conclusion that the wealthy weren’t paying a fair share? Or that special interest corporate tax giveaways, like the Las Vegas loophole, should be closed?

The tax cuts of George W. Bush gave the top one percent a ten-year, $760 billion windfall -- the largest redistribution of wealth from the middle class to those at the absolute top of the wealth ladder in the history of Western civilization. This titanic shift of wealth was rarely, if ever, mentioned by WISTAX voluminous material.