The Poynter Institute Menu Donate State Editions * California * Florida * Iowa * Michigan * New Hampshire * New York * North Carolina * Pennsylvania * Texas * West Virginia * Wisconsin Issues * All Issues * Online hoaxes * Coronavirus * Health Care * Immigration * Extremism * Taxes * Marijuana * Environment * Crime * Guns * Foreign Policy * LGBTQ+ People * Joe Biden * Kamala Harris * Donald Trump * Mitch McConnell * Hakeem Jeffries * Ron DeSantis Media * PunditFact * Tucker Carlson * Sean Hannity * Rachel Maddow * Bloggers * PolitiFact Videos Campaigns * 2024 Elections Truth-o-Meter * True * Mostly True * Half True * Mostly False * False * Pants on Fire Promises * Biden Promise Tracker * Trump-O-Meter * Obameter * Latest Promises About Us * Our Process * Our Staff * En Español * Who pays for PolitiFact? * Advertise with Us * Suggest a Fact-check * Corrections and Updates * Newsletters Donate #### Follow us The Facts Newsletter Sign up English Español ### Get PolitiFact in your inbox. * Weekly Email Newsletter * Daily Email Newsletter Your Email Address Sign Up ![](\\" ![](\\" Gordon Hintz stated on January 30, 2017 in an interview: \"Eleven individuals who make over $30 million each got $22 million credit\" from Wisconsin\'s manufacturing and agriculture tax credit. ![\\"true\\"](\\" mostly-true/4ac7c61540eff5211f6a04d98a6bc93a.jpg.\\") ![\\"mostly- true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") * Agriculture * Income * Jobs * Taxes * Wisconsin * Gordon Hintz ![\\"Supporters](\\" Supporters of Wisconsin\'s manufacturing and agriculture tax credit claim it helps support jobs. Opponents call it a giveaway to the rich. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/Mike DeSisti ![\\"Tom](\\" By Tom Kertscher February 17, 2017 # Did 11 people get $22 million from Wisconsin\'s GOP-backed manufacturing and agriculture tax credit? Wisconsin Democrats have been ripping a tax break they say unfairly benefits the rich. Their target: A manufacturing and agriculture tax credit put in place by Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP-controlled Legislature. This was the criticism leveled Jan. 30, 2017 by state Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, on \"Capital City Sunday,\" a public affairs show on WKOW-TV in Madison: \"The credit disproportionately benefits people who are the wealthiest in our population: 75 percent of the credit goes to those who make over $1 million. In fact, 11 individuals who make over $30 million each got $22 million (in) credit. \" Similar attacks about 11 wealthy individuals were made in TV interviews earlier in the month by other Democratic state lawmakers, including Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca of Kenosha and by state Rep. Dianne Hesselbein of Middleton. Let’s check Hintz’s claim that \"11 individuals who make over $30 million each got $22 million\" in credits from the program. A note before we dig in: Hintz’s statement could be read to mean 11 individuals who each make over $30 million each got a $22 million credit. But it’s clear from Hintz’s prior statements he meant 11 individuals who each make $30 million got a total of $22 million in credits. Previous attack The manufacturing and agriculture tax credit was inserted by Republican lawmakers into Walker’s first state budget, which was adopted in 2011. The credit didn’t take effect until 2013 and wasn’t fully phased in until 2016. It gradually reduced the state tax on the production earnings of manufacturers and agricultural businesses to nearly nothing -- from 7.9 percent to 0.4 percent. The credit’s benefit to the rich became an issue in the 2014 congressional race between Democrat Mark Harris and Republican Glenn Grothman, which Grothman won. Harris claimed that as a state senator, Grothman pushed through the credit and that once it was phased in, \"someone that owns a factory that produces millions in income\" will pay \"less tax than their nephew would if he worked full time at Taco Bell for minimum wage.\" Our rating was Mostly True. We found that some factory owners who earn up to roughly $2.5 million from production income would owe less in state income tax on that income than a full-time worker who earns minimum wage. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" ![](\\" Eric Hovde stated on August 13, 2024 in Public appearance Says U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin “has done absolutely nothing” about the fentanyl crisis. ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Laura Schulte • August 22, 2024 But is the tax so tilted that it overwhelmingly benefits 11 people? The evidence Hintz provided us a January 2017 memo he requested from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The memo reported on figures provided by the state Department of Revenue. According to the memo: * Based on income tax returns filed for tax year 2015, it’s estimated that in tax year 2017, a total of 10,613 claimants will take manufacturing and agriculture credits worth $227 million. (A claimant can be an individual or a married couple.) * Included are 11 claimants who each have an income of $30 million or more. Their total credit is estimated at $22.2 million. (The 11 aren\'t identified.) Casey Langan, a spokesman for the Department of Revenue, confirmed the accuracy of the figures in Hintz’s claim. But he pointed out they are estimates and added: \"Large incomes would reflect large amounts of production activities and therefore attract a sizable credit. These claimants are business owners who are stimulating Wisconsin\'s economy.\" A vice president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce has praised the credit, saying it allows manufacturers \"to compete effectively by essentially allowing them to operate tax free in Wisconsin.\" In contrast, the nonprofit Wisconsin Budget Project says the estimated $299 million in lost income tax revenue in fiscal 2017 from the credit is \"giving a higher priority to giving tax cuts for the best-off\" rather than making investments in schools and universities. The tax credit earned Walker a Promise Kept on our Walk-O-Meter for his campaign pledge to cut manufacturing taxes. It also helped him get a Promise Kept on a pledge to review all tax policy to lighten burden on farmers and Promise Kept on a promise to reduce taxes on employers. Our rating Hintz said \"11 individuals who make over $30 million each got $22 million (in) credit\" from Wisconsin\'s manufacturing and agriculture tax credit. The figures are essentially solid, coming from the nonpartisan state Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The bureau estimates that 11 claimants (individuals or married couples) who each earn over $30 million will share a total of $22 million in credits. But those are estimates, for 2017, not credits actually received. For a statement that is accurate but needs additional information, our rating is Mostly True. Share the Facts Politifact ![\\"Politifact\\"](\\" logo-big.jpg\\"/) 1 6 ![\\"Politifact](\\" facts/rating_images/politifact/tom-mostlytrue.jpg\\"/) Politifact Rating: \"Eleven individuals who make over $30 million each got $22 million credit\" from Wisconsin\'s manufacturing and agriculture tax credit. Gordon Hintz Democratic Wisconsin state representative ![](\\" In an interview Monday, January 30, 2017 01/30/2017 Read More info Share The Facts Gordon Hintz Democratic Wisconsin state representative \"Eleven individuals who make over $30 million each got $22 million credit\" from Wisconsin\'s manufacturing and agriculture tax credit. In an interview – Monday, January 30, 2017 SHAREREAD MORE Shortcut Use if your CMS can accept our shortcut #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources WKOW-TV, Gordon Hintz \"Capital City Sunday\" interview (1:00), Jan. 30, 2017 Email, Gordon Hintz, Feb. 13, 2017 Email, Wisconsin Department of Revenue communications director Casey Langan, Feb. 14, 2017 Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau, memo to Gordon Hintz, Jan. 20, 2017 PolitiFact Wisconsin, \"Budget included two reductions -- the bigger one inserted by GOP lawmakers,\" July 7, 2011 PolitiFact Wisconsin, \"New Wisconsin tax breaks will let factory owners pay less income tax than Taco Bell workers?\" Sept. 14, 2014 Wheeler Report, Gordon Hintz news release, Jan. 24, 2017 Gordon Hintz, news release, June 29, 2016 Capital Times, \"Wisconsin\'s sweeping manufacturing and agriculture tax credit reaches full force this year,\" May 16, 2016 Wisconsin Budget Project, \"The Big Giveaway is Getting Bigger: Updated Figures Show Growing Tax Credit is Inefficient, Costly,\" Feb. 2, 2017 Email, Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau fiscal analyst Sean Moran, Feb. 15, 2017 Wisconsin Department of Revenue, \"Manufacturing and Agriculture Credit,\" accessed Feb. 15, 2017 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Tom Kertscher slide 4 to 6 of 15 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on July 19, 2023 in an Instagram post: A wind turbine must “spin continually for over four years just to replace the energy it took to manufacture it.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Tom Kertscher • July 28, 2023 ![](\\" ![](\\" TikTok posts stated on July 15, 2023 in un video en TikTok: \"Biden elimina ‘tráfico sexual de menores’ como una de las prioridades del Departamento de Justicia de su gobierno”. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Maria Briceño • July 25, 2023 ![](\\" 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Eleven individuals who make over 30 million each got 22 million credit from Wisconsin's manufacturing and agriculture tax credit