How Does Your State Rank on Taxes?

www.taxfoundation.org ^

[Straight Vermonter]

 

Comparing the Total Tax Burden in Each State to Just the State/Local Tax Burden

 

Each state’s total tax burden represents a combination of federal, state, and local tax burdens. It can be instructive, however, to strip out federal taxes and compare just the tax burdens of states and localities.

The 33 links below display tables that compare total taxes as a percentage of income for each state to state/local taxes as a percentage of income, ranked in order, for the years 1971 to 2002.

Look at other years

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Effective State and Local Tax Burdens by State and Rank
Calendar Year 2002

	State and Local			Total
	Tax Burden	Rank		Tax Burden	Rank	Change in Ranking
Total	10.2%			32.1%
Maine	12.8%	1	Maine	32.7%	11	-10
New York	12.3%	2	New York	34.7%	3	-1
Wisconsin	12.0%	3	Wisconsin	33.2%	6	-3
Hawaii	11.6%	4	Hawaii	30.9%	30	-26
Minnesota	11.3%	5	Minnesota	32.9%	7	-2
Rhode Island	11.3%	6	Rhode Island	32.5%	13	-7
Arkansas	11.3%	7	Arkansas	31.2%	26	-19
Utah	11.2%	8	Utah	31.2%	27	-19
Ohio	11.2%	9	Ohio	31.6%	20	-11
Vermont	11.0%	10	Vermont	32.1%	16	-6
Connecticut	10.9%	11	Connecticut	36.7%	1	10
New Mexico	10.9%	12	New Mexico	30.4%	34	-22
Nebraska	10.8%	13	Nebraska	31.6%	19	-6
Michigan	10.7%	14	Michigan	32.8%	8	6
Mississippi	10.7%	15	Mississippi	29.8%	43	-28
Louisiana	10.5%	16	Louisiana	30.1%	41	-25
Idaho	10.5%	17	Idaho	30.3%	37	-20
Kentucky	10.5%	18	Kentucky	30.2%	39	-21
West Virginia	10.5%	19	West Virginia	29.1%	48	-29
Washington	10.5%	20	Washington	35.6%	2	18
Kansas	10.4%	21	Kansas	31.4%	23	-2
Iowa	10.4%	22	Iowa	30.6%	32	-10
New Jersey	10.3%	23	New Jersey	34.3%	4	19
California	10.3%	24	California	32.7%	10	14
Georgia	10.2%	25	Georgia	31.4%	22	3
North Dakota	10.2%	26	North Dakota	29.5%	45	-19
Delaware	10.2%	27	Delaware	31.7%	17	10
Arizona	10.1%	28	Arizona	31.7%	18	10
North Carolina	10.1%	29	North Carolina	30.4%	35	-6
South Carolina	10.0%	30	South Carolina	30.2%	40	-10
Illinois	10.0%	31	Illinois	32.8%	9	22
Montana	10.0%	32	Montana	29.8%	42	-10
Oklahoma	9.9%	33	Oklahoma	29.0%	49	-16
Indiana	9.9%	34	Indiana	30.9%	31	3
Pennsylvania	9.9%	35	Pennsylvania	31.1%	28	7
Wyoming	9.8%	36	Wyoming	34.1%	5	31
Maryland	9.7%	37	Maryland	31.1%	29	8
Missouri	9.7%	38	Missouri	30.2%	38	0
Massachusetts	9.5%	39	Massachusetts	32.6%	12	27
Virginia	9.4%	40	Virginia	31.3%	25	15
Oregon	9.4%	41	Oregon	30.5%	33	8
Florida	9.3%	42	Florida	32.2%	15	27
Nevada	9.2%	43	Nevada	32.3%	14	29
South Dakota	9.1%	44	South Dakota	29.7%	44	0
Colorado	9.1%	45	Colorado	31.3%	24	21
Alabama	9.1%	46	Alabama	29.1%	47	-1
Texas	9.0%	47	Texas	30.4%	36	11
New Hampshire	8.6%	48	New Hampshire	31.6%	21	27
Tennessee	8.4%	49	Tennessee	29.2%	46	3
Alaska	6.3%	50	Alaska	27.0%	50	0
District of Columbia	13.9%	-		37.6%

 

 

Look at other years

 

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[k2blader]

Makes sense to me. Average income here is lower than the national average, methinks. Post #39 is a nice addition to the breakdown as well.

[TN Republican]

See post #50.

[the bottle let me down]

Makes sense to me. Average income here is lower than the national average, methinks. Post #39 is a nice addition to the breakdown as well.

For 2001 Hawaii's per capita income was $28,554. US percapita income was $30,271. source

[k2blader]

Wow, another lovely source. Thank you. Hm... approximately a $2,000 difference...

[MissAmericanPie]

I stay ready, to keep from having to get ready. =o)

[VOA]

bump

[Laserman]

Thanks. I'll fix VA. Great info!

[k2blader]

Some states also have a higher proportion of achievers, while other states have a higher proportion of EIC trash.

If I may read between the lines and respond...

Hawaii is a Socialists' Paradise. There's not a heck of a lot of difference between the leftist ideology of both Republicans and Democrats, which only contributes to the downward spiral.

However, if you're attempting to compare individual "achievement" with individual income level, that's true only up to a point. Folks here in most fields of work are paid less than their counterparts on the mainland due to a sloggy local economy and the fact that there is high supply of workers & a low demand for their services. I think workers here aren't "worth as much" mainly because employers can't afford to pay them more, not because they are any more "under-achieving" than people in other states.

[TN Republican]

A reasonable measure of achievement would be someone's earnings, would it not? Doesn't your welfare statist's paradise offer a lot of incentive to stay within the "sweet spot" of the Earned Income Credit tables? ($10,000-$14,000 w/ 2 kids gets you $4,008.00)

[k2blader]

Really, I hear ya. Yes, Hawaii *is* a welfare state and it's disgusting. There are a few of us still here trying to achieve change. But odds are it won't happen in my life-time.

[Laserman]

		State	Legislature	Governor
0		District of Columbia	Democrat	Democrat
1		Maine	Split	Independent
2		New York	Split	Republican
3		Wisconsin	Split	Republican
4		Hawaii	Democrat	Democrat
5		Minnesota	Split	Independent
6		Rhode Island	Democrat	Republican
7		Arkansas	Democrat	Republican
8		Utah	Republican	Republican
9		Ohio	Republican	Republican
10		Vermont	Split	Democrat
11		Connecticut	Democrat	Republican
12		New Mexico	Democrat	Republican
13		Nebraska	Non-Partisan	Republican
14		Michigan	Republican	Republican
15		Mississippi	Democrat	Democrat
16		Louisiana	Democrat	Republican
17		Idaho	Republican	Republican
18		Kentucky	Split	Democrat
19		West Virginia	Democrat	Democrat
20		Washington	Democrat	Democrat
21		Kansas	Republican	Republican
22		Iowa	Republican	Democrat
23		New Jersey	Republican	Republican
24		California	Democrat	Democrat
25		Georgia	Democrat	Democrat
26		North Dakota	Republican	Republican
27		Delaware	Split	Democrat
28		Arizona	Split	Republican
29		North Carolina	Democrat	Democrat
30		South Carolina	Split	Democrat
31		Illinois	Split	Republican
32		Montana	Republican	Republican
33		Oklahoma	Democrat	Republican
34		Indiana	Split	Democrat
35		Pennsylvania	Republican	Republican
36		Wyoming	Republican	Republican
37		Maryland	Democrat	Democrat
38		Missouri	Split	Democrat
39		Massachusetts	Democrat	Republican
40		Virginia	Republican	Democrat
41		Oregon	Republican	Democrat
42		Florida	Republican	Republican
43		Nevada	Split	Republican
44		South Dakota	Republican	Republican
45		Colorado	Split	Republican
46		Alabama	Democrat	Democrat
47		Texas	Split	Republican
48		New Hampshire	Republican	Democrat
49		Tennessee	Democrat	Republican
50		Alaska	Republican	Democrat

Not sure there is a clear trend, though Republican Legislatures seem to keep taxes down.

[k2blader]

Found a link related to the subject: State and Local Welfare Spending Per Capita, 1997. The data's 5 years old but likely hasn't changed too much.

Notice that Alaska is ranked #3 in terms of highest state & local welfare spending per capita. Yet it is also ranked #50 (last!) in terms of highest state/local and total tax burden.

This seems to render inaccurate any attempt to primarily relate a state's high tax burden to its "low achievement"/welfare status.

[let freedom sing]

Don't kid yourself-- it's for the business that welfare dollars support.

[Abandon All Hope]

Thanks for posting this.

[Ligeia]

Darn, did you have to fix Virginia? I liked it better the first time. By the way, Gilmore joins The Heritage Foundation . I'm guessing it's Gilmore's cutting the car tax that resulted in Virginia's change in ranking.

[Tijeras_Slim]

New Mexico! 12th in taxes, 1st in DWI, and 48th in just about anything good. Still, I wouldn't live anywhere else.

[SheLion]

Gee Look atr the home of those rino's Snowe and Collins and Cohen.

I just found this thread again, and isn't Maine mind boggling! Ranks right up there. My! How proud our lawmakers must be. I'd like to kick them all in the butt who did this to people in Maine who choose to buy a legal product.

It never ceases to amaze me how they kick the "dirty smokers" around, but use us to balance state budgets. Most of them all have dirty hands in this. They talk out of both sides of their mouths. Thank God for Roll Your Own!

It's the American way to shop around and buy cheap, and by Gawd, we aren't paying these stupid, outrageous taxes again. They can pull the money out of their behinds. heh!

Talk about shooting the goose that laid the golden egg! The states all had it pretty good with cigarette tax money until they became big gluttons. They not only SHOT the goose, now they are try to gut it. The goose is gone!

[SheLion]

I think they also forgot to include FICA, which adds about about 15% to the total burden for the first ~60,000 of income.

I found out that each Mom & Pop's can also tack on "their little precentage," like 5%. So, it's really impossible to actually track down the EXACT taxes on cigarettes. Too many "hidden taxes" on this legal product.

[SheLion]

This is a bit old, but it never made the Puff_List. Ck it out! It's pretty good. I can use this information with the following:

INDIANA SMOKERS' CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STATE ECONOMY - 2001

CALIFORNIA SMOKERS' CONTRIBUTION TO THE STATE ECONOMY - 2001

MICHIGAN SMOKERS' CONTRIBUTION TO THE STATE ECONOMY - 2001

ILLINOIS SMOKERS’ CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STATE ECONOMY - 2001

MASSACHUSETTS SMOKERS' CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STATE ECONOMY-2001

DELAWARE SMOKERS' CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STATE ECOMOMY -2001

NEW YORK CITY SMOKERS' CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STATE ECOMOMY -2001

RHODE ISLAND SMOKERS' CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STATE ECONOMY 2001

TEXAS SMOKERS' CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STATE ECONOMY - 2001