State-Local Tax Burden Rankings
We’ve just released our annual State-Local Tax Burden Rankings. According to the report, 9.9 percent of income in America went toward state and local taxes (in FY 2012).
The report highlights the state-local tax burden on taxpayers in each of the 50 states, details how much residents pay to their state and other states, and illustrates taxburden trends over time and within each state.
New Yorkers faced the highest burden, with 12.7% of income in the state going to state and local taxes. Connecticut (12.6%) and New Jersey (12.2%) followed closely behind. On the other end of the spectrum, Alaska (6.5%), South Dakota (7.1%) and Wyoming (7.1%) had the lowest burdens.
The study’s key findings include:
During the 2012 fiscal year, state-local tax burdens as a share of state incomes decreased on average across the U.S. Average income increased at a faster rate than tax collections, driving down state-local tax burdens on average.
On average, taxpayers pay the most taxes to their own state and local governments. In 2012, 78 percent of taxes collected were paid within the state of residence, up from 73 percent in 2011.
State-local tax burdens are very close to one another and slight changes intaxes or income can translate to seemingly dramatic shifts in rank. For example, Delaware (16th) and Colorado (35th) only differ in burden by just over one percentage point. However, while burdens are clustered in the center of the distribution, states at the top and bottom can have substantially different burden percentages—e.g. New York (12.6%) and Alaska (6.5%).
It’s important to remember that a significant amount of taxation occurs across state lines, and that this shifting is not uniform. For instance, one might pay sales taxes at their local corner store, but also pay sales taxes when on vacation in another state. This shifting should not be ignored when attempting to understand the burden faced by taxpayers within a state.
Amazing how overtaxed NJ residents are, and yet the union controlled legislature in Trenton still can’t afford all they’ve promised as the state finances collapse. Tired of the tax man stealing out of your pocket in NJ? Just wait until you die and the state makes your wife pay your inheritance taxes
It’s the feds that are stealing our money… to the tune of tens of billions per year … The NJ Controller should publish stats the way the NY Controller does on an annual basis.