New Jersey taxpayers bear the heaviest state-local tax burden in 2008, and Alaskans have the lightest tax burden, according to a new report from the Tax Foundation.
In Tax Foundation Special Report, No. 163, “State-Local Tax Burdens Dip As Income Growth Outpaces Tax Growth,” senior economist Gerald Prante computes each state’s combined state-local tax burden, accounting for taxes paid out of state.
The nation as a whole paid 9.7% of its income in state-local taxes, down from 9.9% in 2007 primarily because income grew faster than tax collections between 2007 and 2008.
New Jersey residents paid 11.8%, topping the charts. New Yorkers were close behind, paying 11.7%, and Connecticut was third at 11.1%. The top ten were rounded out by Maryland (10.8%), Hawaii (10.6%), California (10.5%), Ohio (10.4%), Vermont (10.3%), Wisconsin (10.2%) and Rhode Island (10.2%).
Alaskans pay the least, 6.4 percent in 2008, but Nevada is close at 6.6 percent. In four states the residents pay between 7 and 8 percent of their income in state-local taxes: Wyoming (7.0%), Florida (7.4%), New Hampshire (7.6%) and South Dakota (7.9%). Four other states round out the bottom ten: Tennessee (8.3%), Texas (8.4%), Louisiana (8.4%) and Arizona (8.5%).
Tax Foundation rankings are sometimes confused with rankings based on Census Bureau’s tallies of state and local tax collections. The difference is out-of-state tax payments. When state and local governments collect large amounts from non-residents, whether as tourists, commuters, businesses or property owners, Census counts those payments in the collections of the taxing state; the Tax Foundation study counts them in the residential state of the taxpayer.
The most recent estimates are for fiscal year 2008 which ended June 30, and the historical burden data cover the 32 years starting with 1977.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the state’s treasury department told CBS 2 HD that under the Corzine administration, New Jersey has cut taxes more than any other administration in the country and that the tax foundation is a conservative group.
The spokesperson said the study was done by a group that is “heavily biased against northeastern states, where the per capita and household incomes are among the highest in the nation.”
(Eli Gefen – YWN Queens Ops’ Desk)
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4 Responses
I believe Benjamin Disraeli said that there are three types of lies:
“Lies, d..n lies, and statistics”.
These numbers are probably for each state as a whole. If you looked at municipalities, New York City would top them all (especially after all the bloomberg tax hikes).
If the state would get serious about the major corruption we face on every level of government it might help- sure many will say that it is miniscule- but it is so pervasive that the bottom line effects every tax payer in the state-
I pay over 12k just in property taxes- I have a small 4 bedroom house- and besides we do not have school busing etc- no wonder people are seriously considering moving to far flung communities which is a positive benefit-
What else is new?? (about NJ)
As usual if you want to get rid of some of the taxes, you need to get the liberals out of office. Liberals DO NOT lower taxes. There is not a tax out there they dont like.
The true Conservatives (not to be confused with Republicans) will lower taxes.
Think about it next time you are in the polling booth.