CATO is not liberal.
But perhaps they’re a little blind or foolish.
I apologize. You are right they are libertarians aka liberaltarians and there is actually a difference between being a liberal and a liberaltarian though not nearly as much as some would have us believe. And yes, liberaltarian actually is a word.
Looking over their review they do not even mention property tax rates. Seems like an oversight, but it is actually a finger on the scale to give an advantage to states that their ideology favors. Whether being liberaltarians actually means that they are freedom lovers is up to debate. An even better measure that they left out of their reviews are the status of Covid lockdowns in the various states.