[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.

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[neocon1984]

Here in Illinois, they have taxes and fees for so many things that it’s impossible to truly compute the tax burden. Much of it is disguised so the sheeple will not rebel. Cook County (Land of Obama) is the worst.

Just one example. If you fly through OHare Airport you pay the City of Chicago $10 for landing and $10 for taking off.

[Redbob]

" Only seven states -- Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming -- don't assess income taxes, and New Hampshire and Tennessee have income taxes on just dividends and interest."

I cut this out of the article for all you folks who still think Tennessee doesn't have an income tax!

[napscoordinator]

You can compare red and blue states, but blue states usually have a higher annual salary so I guess it evens out. Would you rather make 19,000 dollars in red Mississippi or 70,000 in blue Conneticut. If you pay 30 percent in Conneticut, you end up with 49,000 dollars. If you pay 20 percent in blue Mississippi you end up with 15,400. I know I could live on 49,000 dollars but no way could I live on 15,400...Don’t you think that alone is telling and why comparing the red and blue states does not work out exactly what people believe.

[McGruff]

The American Lung Association gives the federal government an "F" for its lack of political will to impose greater taxes on tobacco

Good thing us smokers got a friend in the White House. :^)

[Las Vegas Ron]

BS

There is no state tax here in Nevada and sales tax is in line or lower than other states, 7.75%

How can it be in the top four?

[PGR88]

THis current economic disaster is going to change the future economic landscape of the USA

It will become clear in the coming years - the “Red” states will recover much faster, with a well-balanced economy of manufacturing, services, etc...

The “Blue” states will take much longer to recover. They will have stagnant job growth, declining populations, and of course, expanding Government. I live in a very “blue” state and our recessions for the last 30+ years have been deeper than the national average, and it takes much longer for us to recover from them.

At that point the “Red” states really must take advantage of this and assert their leadership role.

[ncalburt]

this study is crap. Fl has no state income tax but the state column have 10 % ?