Best and Worst States For Taxes (2000 Bush States Are Best, Gore States Are Worst!)

MSN | 2/11/03 | Phillip Harper

[Uncle Miltie]

Note also that the high-income states vote Gore, and the low income states vote Bush. Rich Democrats make me puke.

B.C., FARGO, ND! Yah!

[applemac_g4]

Something fishy about these lists. I find it hard to believe that Washington is second worst with no income tax.

[timestax]

bump

[Eva]

Not true, Washington is not heavily populated, has no income tax and low property taxes, but we are still #2 on the list of most heavily taxed states.

[Clemenza]

I've seen better studies than this one indicating what a high-tax state Connecticut has become. I can honestly say that CT and NJ only look good taxwise when compared to New York CITY, although even that is not entirely true, as our property taxes here in the city (despite Bloomberg's recent hike) are still substantially lower than the suburbs.

[Mr. Bird]

So what's not true? Regardless of population or the presence of local taxes, if the majority of Washingtonians earn substantial salaries, the percentage burden will be necessarily higher than that of a state with lower average salaries.

Example: If average income in MS is $20k/year, their federal percentage burden falls in the 15% range. If WA averages $70k, the percentage burden is closer to 27%. So, a state with higher incomes (note NY, CT, and NJ) will by definition have a higher percentage burden.

[Mr. Bird]

It's all about per capita income. The progressive income tax structure automatically increases the percentage burden on states with high salaries (relative to others).

You can break it down even further, to show the silliness of the data here. I would wager that the percentage burden of taxes in Darien, CT blows Hartford, CT out of the water, simply because income levels in Darien are higher than Hartford.

[Eva]

The average family wage in the county where I live is $23,000/yr. There are counties in more rural areas where the family wage is considerably lower, where logging has been the tradition and families go on welfare and unemployment for five months out of every year.