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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Milwaukee County has the highest county sales tax in Wisconsin at 0.9%.

Every other county with a sales tax charges 0.5% on top of the statewide 5% rate.

Two counties – Waukesha and Winnebago – do not have a sales tax, according to a chart from the state Department of Revenue.

The city of Milwaukee is currently the only city with its own sales tax of 2%. Both the 0.9% county rate and 2% city rate went into effect Jan. 1, 2024.

Separately, Milwaukee has tourism-related taxes that support the Wisconsin Center District, including a 0.5% rate for restaurant meals.

The 0.9% county and 2% city sales taxes stem from a bipartisan 2023 law that sought to help Milwaukee avoid a financial crisis.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Democratic nominee for governor, signed the county-level legislation that put the 0.9% tax into effect. 

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Hope Karnopp has reported on politics for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel since 2023. She covered the 2024 presidential campaigns in Wisconsin and was on the ground at the RNC and DNC. She previously was a Wisconsin Watch reporting intern. Hope is originally from Green Bay and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.