10 States With The Highest And Lowest Tax Burdens

Ted

FYI: The tax code is so complicated it can be difficult for the average person to understand how taxes will impact their finances. One helpful ratio is tax burden, which measures the proportion of total personal income that residents pay toward state and local taxes. While one's overall taxes owed fluctuates based on individual circumstances like income tax rates, it also varies across the U.S., with certain states having a much higher tax burden than others. WalletHub looked at three types of tax burdens – property taxes, individual income taxes and sales and excise taxes – as a share of personal income to find the 10 states with the biggest and lowest tax burdens in 2017.
Regards,
Ted

Highest:
1. New York
2. Hawaii
3. Maine
4. Vermont
5. Minnesota
6. Connecticut
7. Rhode Island
8. Illinois
9. New Jersey
10. California
http://www.investmentnews.com/gallery/20180409/FREE/409009999/PH

Lowest:
1. Alaska
2. Delaware
3. Tennessee
4. Florida
5. New Hampshire
6. Oklahoma
7. South Dakota
8. Alabama
9. Montana
10. Virginia
http://www.investmentnews.com/gallery/20180410/FREE/410009999/PH

LewisBraham

It would be nice if just one of these dumb stories actually bothered to calculate what value you get for your tax dollar as opposed to just how much you're paying. In other words, calculate the efficiency of the tax payment for goods and services, and the quality of those goods and services, and the quality of life overall. In other words, taxes pay for stuff. I would rather live in New York or Hawaii any day of the week than Alabama or South Dakota.

Crash

+1 @LewisBraham.

msf

It's not just what you get for your taxes, but who pays those taxes and how they're distributed.

For example, in a twist on the small town speed trap, Delaware hikes the tolls on its roads on weekends to "trap" the bulk of out of state travelers. San Francisco gives its residents a break on utility taxes - only nonresidential (i.e. commercial) customers pay this tax. New York City keeps its property taxes very low (except for co-ops/condos which are charged 5x as much, still below many other areas) by imposing a graduated income tax.

Like star ratings, these "magic number" rankings don't give you much idea of what's going on for you specifically, let alone what you're getting for your taxes.

LewisBraham

The other factor that needs to be considered is comparable wages for the same types of work in different states. You might be more willing to pay a higher income tax in New York if your salary for doing the same type of job is significantly higher than in competing states.

Old_Joe

For sure when you contemplate all of the unseen/unspoken variables these types of lists are factually useless. Good conversation starters, though.

davidrmoran

You mean the 60k that gives a fine lifestyle in southern Ohio won't do the same in Park Slope?

LewisBraham

What kills everyone in New York cost wise is the real estate. If you can figure out a way around that, which is possible but not easy, I actually think it can be more affordable than many other places in the U.S. Food for instance is often cheaper in New York if you know what you're doing because there is so much competition--so many fruit stands, bodegas, markets, restaurants--that there are always remarkably cheap options. The same goes for clothing as there is such a retail presence there. The same also goes for utilities such as heat and electricity because apartment buildings are pretty much collectives in which spaces are tiny, therefore cheaper to heat and cool. Transportation is also reasonable as you don't need a car--no car payments or insurance, etc. But as one infamous and hilarious political figure in New York once said "rent is too damn high!"

msf

Hamilton County (Cincinnati) - median household income $50,399, poverty 16.0%
Kings County (Brooklyn) - median household income, $50,640, poverty 20.6%

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hamiltoncountyohio,kingscountybrooklynboroughnewyork/PST045217

Similar income levels in the two counties. Perception is not always reality. Lewis is right, the main differences are shelter (higher), and food/clothing/transportation.

True, there are nicer neighborhoods everywhere:

Columbia Tusculum 45226 - median income $88,715 (Laptops and Lattes demographic)
Park Slope 11215 - median income $98,579 (Laptops and Lattes demographic)

davidrmoran

Correct, why I specified Park Slope, and not Cincinnati but more my hometown of Springfield's 45506, which ain't at all like 45226.
That visual dataset is fascinating, and the promo prose makes US life look not so bad almost anywhere.

MikeM

What kills everyone in New York cost wise is the real estate.

You are talking about the city, not the state. Housing in cities like Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany is down-right cheap compared to the rest of the country. Real estate tax on the other hand is a different story. That ain't cheap.

msf

davidrmoran said:

Correct, why I specified Park Slope, and not Cincinnati but more my hometown of Springfield's 45506, which ain't at all like 45226.

Not sure where Springfield was specified, though it may have been what you had in mind. What I saw was "Southern Ohio" being compared to a neighborhood in the largest county in NYS. So I picked an Ohio county with the largest city in southern Ohio. Sitting right on the southern border of the state. And a city where I was offered (but declined) a job out of college.

It turns out that Cincinnati and Springfield have their share of similarities at the city level:
Cincinnati - median household income $34,629, poverty 29.9%
Springfield - median household income $32,165, poverty 27.9%

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/cincinnaticityohio,springfieldcityohio,US/PST045217

Of course Springfield, with six zip codes and about 1/6 the population of Cincinnati, doesn't have the same diversity of neighborhoods.

expatsp

Looking at that list, it seems clear that some states do give more value for their taxes. Obviously there are lots of variables, but Masschusetts, for example, has public services that are probably as good or better than in NY, but isn't in the 10 highest tax states. Virginia and Florida's school systems both do better than NY on education: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-best-schools/5335/
I'm a New Yorker, and I'm all for high taxes (which I pay) & generous state services, but it's hard to say that this state is well run.

Crash

Government is supposed to serve PEOPLE, I always thought. But these days, it's clear that gov't is the lapdog of Big Money.

Old_Joe

@Crash- "These days"? Read your Mark Twain.

Crash

Old_Joe said:

@Crash- "These days"? Read your Mark Twain.

Ya, I know.
Remind you of anyone else?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zeidler

catch22

@Crash
Are you able to construct a list of 10 items that you feel your.....
1. state taxes provide
2. local taxes provide
.....that you consider of value to your well being, better standard of living and/or other?
Probably need to add Federal, too; eh?
Well, two is enough for the time being.
FOR ALL, I SUPPOSE: What might be the top ten list of tax money funded areas where you live? All subject to variables of the needs of a state and/or community.
K. Being pillow time for this one.
Regards,
Catch

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The user and all related content has been deleted.

hank

Burden? A loaded headline for sure. I consider paying taxes a privilege as long as (1) there’s some fairness & proportionality that takes into consideration the ability of various citizens to contribute, (2) the money is spent wisely as I would do with my own and (3) the taxes go towads the public good. And I’ll admit that on the second score that’s not always the case.

Since NYC was mentioned, I’ll chime in that it’s an amazing place to visit with a lot of wonderful things to do and see that benefit locals and visitors alike (many free of charge). Many great parks free to use. I can wander all day in Central Park. Never tire of being there. Really has some awesome displays and monuments.
My favorite ... https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/alice-in-wonderland-statue

Cultural gems like the Museum of Natural History, a beautiful well maintained waterfront where you can view Lady Liberty and ride free of charge all day on the Statton Island Ferry. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. And while some features like the theaters do cost money, all this culture / activity wouldn’t be possible without the city’s incredible public safety workforce.

When folks knock taxes or public workers, they ought to take a look at their own families, relatives, neighbors. How many are gainfully employed in occupations like education, health care, public safety? Growing up, in my own family it was several. Fair to say public sector work put food on our table. And I still have brothers. sisters, cousins, nephews and nieces who serve in various public sectors and derive a livelihood from said employment.

Think of taxes as civic sharing. In a tax-free world it’s the law of the jungle & survival of the fittest. Sure, the super wealthy can fund their own security force, pay for repairs to their limos caused by chuckholes, create and maintain their own beachfront / green areas and send their kids to expensive private schools. What about everybody else?

davidrmoran

hank, hank, hank, you progressive libtard, passe believer in the common weal

Crash

Things are not the way they should be because the wealthy don't pay their fair share of taxes. Our system is not truly progressive, as in decades past, even in my own lifetime. Don't tell me you "earned" that much. NOBODY and nobody's TIME and EFFORT is worth that much. The big-name ballplayers come to mind. And the Trumpster. And all the rest of them. Supposed American values are dead.

bee

Today's Taxes are just a convenient way to "pay to play". In New England the meeting house often determined the taxation and often it had little to do with money:

Many aspects of daily life were determined at Vermont’s meeting houses. There, townspeople decided which destitute people to house and feed, and which to declare were not the town’s responsibility; they also established the boundaries of school districts (towns sometimes having a dozen or more tiny districts, since schools had to be within easy traveling distance), hired a preacher, required every man to give a day’s labor to clearing a town burying ground, set the dates during which pigs were not allowed to roam freely, even determined how to comport oneself at a town meeting. (Enosburg voters decided that anyone showing up drunk and disruptive at town meeting, or any other public function, would be required to remove a tree stump from the dooryard of the local tavern.)

vermonts-first-town-meetings/

Crash

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/15/bernie-s/income-tax-rates-were-90-percent-under-eisenhower-/

msf

Maurice said:

@msf I guess the SF utility tax break isn't sufficient. San Francisco Out-Migration

The article is about how hard it is to rent U-Hauls out of the Bay Area, and gives data only for San Jose. San Francisco, on the other hand, continues to grow:
https://www.usapopulation.org/san-francisco-population/

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The user and all related content has been deleted.

Crash

"....Or maybe people don't believe that the extra money will go toward repairing roads and bridges.." Quite right. Or they don't believe that those bridges and roads will be kept up to snuff with the tax money paid. How many times can you call and alert the wonderful people in charge, before it gets done? I've said it before: five minutes away from me, in a neighboring State, they KNOW what pavement is. A couple of years ago, the libraries here --- already open only part-time on a rotating basis in this city of 150,000--- were strapped for cash. How was the shortfall fixed? Our trash collection fee was doubled. What kind of game is that? They don't have the sense to say that the LIBRARY needs money, and present it as such? Anyhow, first things first: no city of this size should be going with part-time library branches. I have to go to the next town pretty often, and so I use theirs. And parking is not a problem, either.

davidrmoran

>> They don't have the sense to say that the LIBRARY needs money, and present it as such?

wait, whose point are you making? that way lies library doom. do you really want a system of dedicated taxes? "I ain't got kids, so screw teachers".

a world of Maurices!

Crash

No, no, no. More precisely, taxes in general should be raised in order to have libraries that function the way they should. I did not mean dedicated taxes. From where I sit, I cannot, however, understand why this city is going to shit while my taxes go UP. During the decades while I was away (by design) the city gov't was so corrupt, a finance board was created out of the State capital (Boston) to oversee city money. That's not still the case, but it all just makes me seethe. There is no place that's perfect. But I know where I can go where I won't have to deal with snow any more, and where roads aren't falling apart. The day is coming.

davidrmoran

>> why this city is going to shit while my taxes go UP.

you gotta look at the budget, in detail, and you will see; it is online or comes in the mail. this is springfield? it sounds sickening, but when you look at the line items it gets more comprehensible, and less sickening (or maybe moreso).
you're gonna leave springfield or wherever it is? and move to a southern tourism-based state?

Crash

Yes, it's Springfield. We're headed for AZ. As I said before, the politics out there is NOT the reason.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield,_Massachusetts

davidrmoran

roger; sorry to see smart people leave mass