State-Local Tax Burdens, Calendar Year 2005
Rank State State/Local taxes as
% of per capita income
U.S. average 10.10%
1 Maine 13.00%
2 New York 12.00%
3 Hawaii 11.50%
4 Rhode Island 11.40%
5 Wisconsin 11.40%
6 Vermont 11.10%
7 Ohio 11.00%
8 Nebraska 10.90%
9 Utah 10.90%
10 Minnesota 10.70%
11 Arkansas 10.50%
12 Connecticut 10.50%
13 West Virginia 10.50%
14 New Jersey 10.40%
15 Kansas 10.40%
16 Louisiana 10.40%
17 Maryland 10.30%
18 Indiana 10.30%
19 Kentucky 10.30%
20 California 10.30%
21 Arizona 10.20%
22 Michigan 10.10%
23 Wyoming 10.10%
24 Washington 10.00%
25 Iowa 10.00%
26 Mississippi 10.00%
27 Idaho 10.00%
28 North Carolina 10.00%
29 New Mexico 9.90%
30 Illinois 9.80%
31 Georgia 9.80%
32 Massachusetts 9.80%
33 South Carolina 9.70%
34 Virginia 9.70%
35 Pennsylvania 9.70%
36 Oregon 9.60%
37 Colorado 9.50%
38 Nevada 9.50%
39 Montana 9.50%
40 Oklahoma 9.40%
41 Missouri 9.40%
42 North Dakota 9.40%
43 Texas 9.30%
44 Florida 9.20%
45 South Dakota 8.80%
46 Alabama 8.70%
47 Tennessee 8.30%
48 Delaware 8.00%
49 New Hampshire 7.40%
50 Alaska 6.40%
District of Columbia 12.20%
Source: Tax Foundation, 2005
Do you have a link to the table you posted? (When you post a great table like that, please always post the link so others can bookmark them for reference materials when writing opinion pieces.)
I find this table pretty meaningless. Oregon is listed as number 36, for instance. The 9.6% rate is income tax, all of it. Also, the "Progressives" have set up the state income tax to disallow exemptions that the IRS allows. Also the county of Multnomah / City of Portland have an additional income tax of 1.5%.
Across the river Washington (#24)has no income tax, but a hefty sales tax. If you have no or low income the rate is higher in Washington. If you are earning more than you spend the situation is very different.
Also there are more ways to easily avoid sales tax (internet shopping, which is still exempt, for instance) then to avoid a state income tax.
So I'm not sure where you got it but it seems pretty bogus to me. Maybe it's not so simple to do a 1 through 50 ranking of taxes, given the dynamics of the different types.
1 Maine 13.00%
4 Rhode Island 11.40%
6 Vermont 11.10%
12 Connecticut 10.50%
32 Massachusetts 9.80%
49 New Hampshire 7.40%
I love this chart. It's particularly useful to people who lump all New England states together because of the federal politics, but don't see that some states have low taxes and it's the cost of living that kills people. Interesting that Maine and N.H. each elect two Republican senators, but with such a divergent approach to taxation.