Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Sunday, February 8, 2015

10 States With the Worst Taxes for Average Americans







1.  Washington
2.   Florida
3.   Texas
4.   South Dakota
5.   Illinois
6.   Pennsylvania
7.   Tennessee
8.   Arizona
9.   Kansas
10. Indiana




"...these states “rely heavily on taxes that are paid disproportionately by low- and middle-income households, and have very little reliance on taxes that the top 1% or top 5% would be responsible for paying.” In other words, states have to make up for that revenue in one way or another. Nationwide, personal and corporate income taxes accounted for an average of nearly 18% of state revenue. Yet in five of the 10 states, the contribution to revenue from income taxes was less than 5%. And while sales and excise taxes accounted for less than one quarter of state revenue on average across the nation, they accounted for more than 30% of revenue in six of the 10 states with the most regressive tax policies. 

 While it is difficult to know the exact degree that these tax policies impact income inequality, the states with the most regressive tax systems also had relatively uneven income distribution even before taxes were applied. In six of the 10 states, the 2013 Gini coefficient — which has values between zero and one, where one means all income belongs to a single person and zero means uniform income distribution — was higher than in the majority of states. 

 To identify the 10 states with the worst tax systems for average Americans, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed ITEP’s Tax Inequality Index scores for the 50 states. The index incorporated effective tax rates for the poorest 20%, middle 60%, top 1%, as well as ratios comparing these rates, among other measures. 

Effective tax rates were based on total state and local taxes as a share of family income for non-elderly taxpayers in all 50 states. ITEP’s model used 2012 income figures, and considered tax laws from 2014 and 2015. Contributions to state revenue by tax type were also provided by ITEP. 

We reviewed the Gini coefficient from 2013 — which is based on pre-tax income — as well as additional economic data from the Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey. 


More HERE.




 In other news:






11 comments:

Jerry Critter said...

We always hear how bad CA is, and we didn't even make the list.

Shaw Kenawe said...

I saw that, Jerry. I'm always interested in California because my daughter and her family live in SoCal and my nephew and his family live in LA.

Also, did you notice that Massachusetts did not make the top ten either?

Interesting to also note: 7 out of the 10 states with worst taxes for average Americans are traditionally conservative states. Y'know the states that brag about how conservative policies are better than liberal policies.

When states brag about not having state incomes taxes, they forget to tell their citizens that revenue has to come from somewhere, so they screw the little guy in taxing food, clothing and anything else that is vital for them.

My sister and her husband lived in a little chalet-style 2-bedroom converted summer home in the mountains of no-state-tax New Hampshire, and they paid THE SAME AMOUNT of property taxes I paid on my 4 bedroom home in a suburb west of Boston!

She moved back to Massachusetts and pays less in property taxes now than when she lived in no-state-tax NH.

Sleeza said...

I'm not suprised to see this. Something we pretty much knew. Good post.

Les Carpenter said...

I lived in Washington state. Great state when I lived there. Would go back if I could get Mrs. RN to leave the northeast.

Shaw Kenawe said...

My nephew lives in Seattle and I love that area! Beautiful!

skudrunner said...

Good time for comprehensive tax reform or just do away with all deductions.

Won't happen because it would affect our millionaire politicians who make the laws.

Jerry Critter said...

Once again Skud your comment is not relevant to the post. If you had bothered to read it, you would see that it is about state taxes, not federal taxes.

Shaw Kenawe said...

This is the problem certain people on the right have: they don't take the time or effort to actually read a post or a speech, so they bring their prejudiced responses tO a blog, missing the point entirely.

We just witnessed this lazy habit after Mr. Obama gave his prayer breakfast speech. What he said was truth; what the howler monkeys understood was completely wrong. Complex ideas or speeches are not for simpletons.

Les Carpenter said...

Observing the effects of Dumbing Down America via Fox "News" and CNN. When you want people to remember things the process of inculcation works wonders. Fox "News" is expert in the application of inculcating folks. They have been so effective we now have many human automatons.

Thanks Fox, CNN, and MSNBC!

Shaw Kenawe said...


I don't watch MSNBC or FAUX NOOZ, and only occasionally CNN. Never network "news."

"I get all the news I need on the weather report." --Paul Simon

Shaw Kenawe said...

Sorry skud, your comment had nothing to do with this post. I deleted it.