Posted on 03/03/2008 3:11:23 PM PST by Sopater
Even if you live in the most heavily taxed state, Maine (which collects an average of 13.5% of residents' income), you might not be ready to high-tail it to Alaska, the state with the lowest taxes (6.6%, and the only state that lacks both sales and income taxes), unless you have an affinity for mosquitoes and seemingly endless tundra.
But in certain cases -- say, if you're about to retire and need to make every dollar count -- moving to a less expensive state might make some sense. More on that later. For the rest of us, it's at least enlightening to know how much tax our own states levy. Geography plays a significant part in the amount we pay.
Each state, county and municipality conjures up its own formula for taxing its residents, and thus it costs more -- sometimes a lot more -- to live in one state instead of another.
Besides the variations in local and state taxes, each state differs in what it contributes in federal taxes. That's determined by income. Those who earn more money generally pay a greater percentage of it in federal taxes, so states with a greater percentage of highly paid workers end up paying more. The state that pays the most in combined state, local and federal taxes, per capita, is Connecticut (35.9%), followed by New York (35.1%), New Jersey (34.3%) and Washington (33.7%). Alabama pays the least (27.5%), followed by Alaska (27.9%) and Mississippi (28%).
Tax rates, unsurprisingly, have climbed in the past year. The U.S. average for state and local taxes last year was 10.6%, up from 10.1% in 2005. The average combined state, local and federal tab for 2006 was 31.6%, up from 29.1% in 2005.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.moneycentral.msn.com ...
Since this article was published, CT has added an ADDITIONAL 7.5% Gross Reciepts Tax on ALL petroleum products. Thats in addition to state sales tax and per/gallon gasoline taxes. Its unclear how the local taxes are figured for the purposes of this article. The crappy little town I live in charges me $550 per year for the privilege of parking my two 5 year old 100k+ miles cars in my driveway. I hate this F’n place.
I see the Not So great state of Connecticut is ranked number 9.I guess we get what we pay for because our cities are loaded with illegal aliens who are surging here without delay.
I fear for this country.
Yup. And they want to push their cancer onto the rest of us.
This can’t possibly be correct. It shows Arkansas way down at #40 in total tax burden and Massachusetts way up at #6. But from reading FR, we all know that Mike Huckabee is a big-government, tax-hiking socialist, while Mitt Romney is a pure, tax-cutting Reaganesque conservative. Obviously, the chart must be wrong.
Don’t forget the Real Estate transaction tax that they put on homeowners when the sell their home.Thats a good chunk of change.
>>>Texas looks good at #32.
>>>BUT it is #12 on property taxes, and (not listed) at the >>>top of the list for property insurance.
>>>The hidden costs do count.
I agree. Insurance for your car and house should be considered as just another tax, as their rates depend largely on the population nearby. New Jersey is sky high in car insurance because of the car theft. Florida has sky high property insurance because of the fraud.
Not only the winters long, brutally , or, lethally cold, everything costs 50 to 70% more than the L48.
So, don’t move to Alaska, stay where you are or, perhaps, move to Texas - it’s a big State and can always use more folks.....
Don’t live on the coast. Cheaper insurance.
I agree it seems like a very poorly designed chart.
State income tax is a big deal, especially if you are working. The cigarette tax may not be.
The best part about Texas is that property tax rates vary so much from county to county. Having homes in both Texas and Mexico, my family is now trying to decide whether or not to consolidate our properties in a less tax-crazy Texas county or just stay in New Mexico where taxes are reasonable Statewide.
Just post’n.
I left AZ years ago when the Old Farts started moving in and demanding everything for free/reduced cost, etc, etc. Oh, and no taxes....
I live in AK, two brothers moved to TX, one sister in NV.....
Pretty soon be no place where the working are not taxed to death to suppoet the “pour & Starv’n “ (HT to Kim d T)
I sure miss Idaho...
The sometimes extreme weather on the High Plains of Texas is perhaps not so inviting as many places in Arizona so most of the elderly folks who are still here were born here. Similar to many of the small towns in the Texas High Plains, this town has not increased in population in the last forty years. Many of the homes have, or have had in the near past, wheel chair ramps at their front doors yet the schools and the parks are still expanding and taxes keep going up. What has happened here is that most of the original Anglo families now reside at the cemetery and their children have left the area for jobs outside of farming. Younger illegal families with many children have replaced the original families and the culture has changed dramatically. If anyone seeks to examine the future of the Anglo-American small-family culture, one has only to look here. Although I was a biologist for many years and understand what is happening, it doesn’t take a scientist or Nostradamus to do the math or predict the future.
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