The best and worst states for taxes (Notice whether they are red or blue)

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/ ^ | 2007 | By Scott McCredie

[Maelstorm]

We pay Uncle Sam the same no matter where we live, but property, gasoline, tobacco, sales and state income taxes are all over the map.

The differences can be extreme. An Alaskan keeps 7 cents more of every dollar than a Vermonter, once cities and the state have grabbed their shares.

Factor in federal taxes and the gap grows even wider. Those who earn more money generally pay a greater percentage of it in federal taxes, so states with a greater percentage of highly paid workers end up paying more.

The state in which residents pay the most in combined state, local and federal taxes, per capita, is Connecticut (38.3%), followed by New York (37.1%), New Jersey (35.6%) and Nevada (35.2%). Oklahoma residents pay the least (27.8%), followed by those in Alabama (28.0%) and Alaska (28.1%).

[Maelstorm]

With so many states facing budget shortfalls there is a great opportunity for the GOP to reassert a key difference with Democrats and also call for budget cuts. Cast the debate as a broken government that has spent and promised too much and is unsustainable. That is a dem buzz word but it is a perfect one when describing the federal and state governments. Talk about creating a sustainable low growth government. Talk about capping budgets to a maximum flat rate based on per capita spending per resident. Take the government's credit line away.

[Old Sarge]

And how are all those big words going to stand in the face of “We Want Pie!!”

The American people are STUPID - you have to say it in single-syllable words and make your point in less than five seconds, or you’ve lost them.

[Diggity]

I would guess too that the higher the tax load in a state the higher the percentage of those in that state who don’t pay a dime in Fed Income Tax.

[fhayek]

You people in Connecticut had better watch out, we New Yorkers are gunning for the top spot once our new governor gets his way. No matter though, we will still be running a deficit.

[nascarnation]

Good info.
It’s difficult to compute a true taxation index.
Things like license plate fees vary all over the map.
Here in Indiana you pay 30 bucks for a 10 yr old car but 300 for a new one (pretty dumb for a state very dependent on the auto industry, IMHO).
Of course 3 of my 4 cars are 10 yrs old or more, LOL.

[Maelstorm]

Well keep it simple. Use words like thievery, slavery, taking your money and wasting it. You have to take in simple man’s terms but the GOP seems to distaste. Rally the mobs. The GOP should stop playing this game of Détente with liberals and just speak clearly. Also stop pussy footing about social issues. If we’d find an effective way to target social conservatives we’d have won California but instead we waste millions of dollars trying to prove what nice guys we are. Well screw that, show the people we are real men and women who believe in all the things that make this country great and aren’t going to stray from those things. We aren’t going to betray our soldiers, our traditions, our principles for false comfort and that is what it is.

[Maelstorm]

You are probably right.

[twister881]

They all are awful. Ten percent (10%) for local, state, & federal combined — including property, sales, income taxes — should be the limit. If tithing is good enough for the Creator of the Universe, it’s good enough for the Creators of Government Waste.

[FrankR]

Alaska or Texas...Texas or Alaska?

One has a hot climate, the other a hot governor. Both look pretty good, taxwise. Texas - I heard - has a clause where they can opt out of the union if they want...that might come in handy in the coming years.

Maybe Alaska should opt out and become their own country, with Sarah as President. They could prosper on oil sales alone...and without the greenie-meany restrictions and the liberals, it could be a great place to live.

[Popman]

Taxes by state

	Sales	Gas/gal.	Cig./pack	Beer/gal.	State burden	Rank	State/Fed. burden	Rank
Alabama	4.0%	$0.20	$0.43	$1.05	8.8%	46	28.0%	49
Alaska	none	$0.08	$2.00	$1.07	6.6%	50	28.1%	48
Arizona	5.6%*	$0.19	$2.00	$0.16	10.3%	31	31.3%	25
Arkansas	6.0%	$0.22	$0.59	$0.21	11.3%	13	30.7%	32
California	7.3%	$0.46	$0.87	$0.20	11.5%	12	34.3%	8
Colorado	2.9%	$0.22	$0.84	$0.08	10.4%	30	31.8%	23
Connecticut	6.0%	$0.44	$2.00	$0.20	12.2%	8	38.3%	1
Delaware	none*	$0.23	$1.15	$0.16	8.8%	47	31.2%	26
Florida	6.0%	$0.33	$0.34	$0.48	10.0%	38	33.6%	12
Georgia	4.0%	$0.26	$0.37	$0.48	10.3%	32	30.9%	28
Hawaii	4%*	$0.33	$1.80	$0.93	12.4%	6	33.0%	16
Idaho	6.0%	$0.25	$0.57	$0.15	10.1%	35	29.6%	42
Illinois	6.3%	$0.40	$0.98	$0.19	10.8%	22	33.2%	14
Indiana	6.0%	$0.32	$1.00	$0.12	10.7%	25	30.8%	30
Iowa	5.0%	$0.22	$1.36	$0.19	11.0%	18	30.6%	33
Kansas	5.3%	$0.25	$0.79	$0.18	11.2%	15	31.0%	27
Kentucky	6%*	$0.19	$0.30	$0.08	10.9%	20	30.4%	34
Louisiana	4.0%	$0.20	$0.36	$0.32	11.0%	17	29.1%	44
Maine	5.0%	$0.29	$2.00	$0.35	14.0%	2	33.9%	10
Maryland	6.0%	$0.24	$2.00	$0.09	10.8%	23	33.1%	15
Massachusetts	5.0%	$0.24	$1.51	$0.11	10.6%	28	34.4%	7
Michigan	6.0%	$0.36	$2.00	$0.20	11.2%	14	31.9%	21
Minnesota	6.5%	$0.22	$1.49	$0.15	11.5%	11	33.9%	11
Mississippi	7.0%	$0.19	$0.18	$0.43	10.5%	29	28.1%	47
Missouri	4.2%	$0.18	$0.17	$0.06	10.1%	34	30.2%	38
Montana	none	$0.28	$1.70	$0.14	9.7%	41	29.8%	39
Nebraska	5.5%	$0.24	$0.64	$0.31	11.9%	9	31.8%	22
Nevada	6.5%	$0.33	$0.80	$0.16	10.1%	36	35.2%	4
New Hampshire	none*	$0.20	$1.08	$0.30	8.0%	49	30.8%	29
New Jersey	7.0%	$0.15	$2.58	$0.12	11.6%	10	35.6%	3
New Mexico	5.0%	$0.18	$0.91	$0.41	9.8%	40	28.8%	45
New York	4.0%	$0.41	$1.50	$0.11	13.8%	3	37.1%	2
N. Carolina	4.3%	$0.30	$0.35	$0.53	11.0%	19	31.3%	24
N. Dakota	5.0%	$0.23	$0.44	$0.16	9.9%	39	30.2%	37
Ohio	5.5%*	$0.28	$1.25	$0.18	12.4%	5	32.4%	18
Oklahoma	4.5%	$0.17	$1.03	$0.40	9.0%	45	27.8%	50
Oregon	none	$0.25	$1.18	$0.08	10.0%	37	30.7%	31
Pennsylvania	6.0%	$0.32	$1.35	$0.08	10.8%	24	31.9%	20
Rhode Island	7.0%	$0.31	$2.46	$0.10	12.7%	4	35.1%	6
S. Carolina	6.0%	$0.17	$0.07	$0.77	10.7%	26	30.3%	35
S. Dakota	4.0%	$0.24	$1.53	$0.27	9.0%	44	29.3%	43
Tennessee	7.0%	$0.21	$0.62	$0.14	8.5%	48	28.8%	46
Texas	6.25%*	$0.20	$1.41	$0.19	9.3%	43	29.8%	41
Utah	4.7%	$0.25	$0.70	$0.41	10.7%	27	30.3%	36
Vermont	6.0%	$0.20	$1.79	$0.27	14.1%	1	35.1%	5
Virginia	5.0%	$0.20	$0.30	$0.26	10.2%	33	32.9%	17
Washington	6.5%*	$0.36	$2.03	$0.26	11.1%	16	34.0%	9
West Virginia	6.0%	$0.32	$0.55	$0.18	10.9%	21	29.8%	40
Wisconsin	5.0%	$0.33	$1.77	$0.06	12.3%	7	33.3%	13
Wyoming	4.0%	$0.14	$0.60	$0.02	9.5%	42	32.1%	19

[Oldpuppymax]

NEVADA? There is no personal income tax in Nevada. Is it a matter of state/county fees or sales taxes which make the difference? I own property in Nevada and plan to retire there—in spite of Harry the real estate wizard Reid. Does anyone have an answer?

[Old Sarge]

And there is the downfall: there are no people on the Right who have the will to fight.

[freekitty]

There are plenty of hidden taxes too. One example is when a deed is recorded; there is an additional tax at the recorders office written into the fee.

Beware anything that says fee.

[Our man in washington]

Make it simple? Okay. “Many lazy government workers are getting good salaries and benefits at your expense.”

I’m a government worker myself. I know of what I speak.

[Congressman Billybob]

Nevada is a glitch in the statistics. Florida will be higher on the tax burden list than it should be, for the same reason. Both states have a substantial part of their tax burden in sales taxes, and a substantial part of that is payed by tourists.

The lists of taxes on businesses and regulations on them are the clearer indicators of which states are blue or red. The more hostile to businesses that a state is, the more likely it is infested with Democrats.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article, "Come Back to 1600, Johnny Dean, Johnny Dean"

The Declaration, the Constitution, parts of the Federalist, and America's Owner's Manual, here.

[fhayek]

They left off some taxes. Here in New York, my property taxes on a $130,000 house (local taxes + school taxes) is about $5,000 a year. Our local sales taxes are 4.75% giving us a total sales tax rate of 8.75%. Take that, Connecticut!

[freekitty]

I don’t know about the rest of the taxes on the chart in Texas; but my sales tax is 8.25.

[Scarchin]

The weird thing is that the liberals create tax hell holes and then flee to low tax states..

AND then ruin those states!

It’s happening here in NH.

[basil]

Are you aware that state taxes can be deducted from your IRS taxes? It takes a lot of trouble--you have to save every receipt that has sales tax on it, and list each deduction separately on your IRS form, but we have found that it's worth it. All these taxes can add up to thousands of dollars a year.

Just keeping all the receipts and adding the sales tax up is eye-opening.

[rockinqsranch]

Seems all too many are more interested in “How does (content of your post) reflect on me?” in light of the promises made by Democrats.

Democrats blatantly lie about what they are going to “give” to the little people. The “little people” today seemingly viewing Government as an entity that either gives, or takes away.

Conservatives with their eye on reducing Government have to go the step further to educate the electorate of how the reduction of Government actually benefits them as individuals. Otherwise there exist too many that perceive Conservatives negatively. Conservatives are in their eyes trying to disrupt the intent of Government which to them has evolved, thanks to Democrat obfuscation to providing.

Our Government wasn’t designed to be this way, but over the years the Democrats have convinced all too many that Government is their life.