Well, for starters, New Hampshire has dividend/interest income taxation, business income taxation, and property taxes that, in some towns, are out of sight. Holy crap, are some of their real estate taxes high in some places.
They make conspicuous use of zoning.
How NH makes it to the top of the list when states like Wyoming have no business income taxation, no passive or dividend taxation, no interest taxation, low real estate taxes and many counties have no zoning... I have no idea.
Idaho is ranked high, but their personal and business income taxes are high too, and when one drives on Idaho roads, one is left wondering “where the heck does all that tax money go?!”
There are other examples, but I could say with high certainty that I would not have ranked Idaho higher than Wyoming or Nevada. Idaho will also tax you if you’re a part-time resident; they will want a pro-rated portion of your income to be taxed according to how much time you spend in Idaho. Neither WY or NV required this.
They think that Wyoming has a high rate of personal taxation, but that’s because they have their heads up their posteriors. Wyoming has no personal or business income taxes. It *looks* like we have a high rate of taxation vs. personal income, because we have mineral severance taxes. Local counties don’t levy any income taxes, and fuel, real estate and sales taxes are generally low.
This is the danger of listening to liberal arts majors from back east or Ivy League schools about any of this stuff. They wouldn’t recognize a fact if it lept up and bit them in their pompous buttocks.
That alone does seem like it should push Wyoming up to the top of the list.
The last I looked neither WY or NV had a state income tax.
Idaho has a state income tax and will tax non-residents on income earned while in Idaho (it's called "source income" and most states with state income tax do something similar unless they have a reciprocity agreement with another state (mostly Eastern U.S. states)). Part-year residents are taxed based on Idaho source income and/or a ratio of total income.
Anyway, Idaho does have a ridiculously steeply graded progressive income tax rate which leaves most people paying more state income tax to Idaho than they would in another state.
And, yes, the roads in Idaho are crummy. Planning is crummy. Maintenance is crummy. Road construction goes on FOREVER. No road in Idaho must be free of orange construction barrels! EVER! I hate the latest fad for roundabouts.