Increased sales tax rate goes into effect January first

Starting The 1st of the new year, buying anything in Milwaukee County will cost a little bit more.

This is because a new county and city sales tax increase goes into effect. The city is adding a sales tax of 2%, on top of the county’s .4% increase of their .5% sales tax already in place.

Both the city and county, which make up the state’s largest metropolitan area, faced running out of money without additional revenue to pay for basic services such as police and fire protection, park maintenance and libraries.

Combined with the state sales tax rate of 5%, the total tax rate in the city of Milwaukee will now be 7.9%.

The higher county sales tax rate is expected to bring an additional $82 million to the county in the first year. That will allow the county to have a budget surplus instead
of a projected $18 million deficit.