Who pays?

[hfojvt]

"Who Pays? is a comprehensive analysis of state and local tax systems in all fifty states. The study, released on November 18, 2009, shows that on average, state and local tax systems require the poorest taxpayers to pay the highest effective tax rates."

http://www.itepnet.org/whopays/

Interesting state by state data

The top ten regressive states?

Washington (really? wow)
Florida
Southa Dakota (my home state, no surprise)
Tennessee
Texas
Illinois (again, really? wow)
Arizona
Nevada
Pennsylvnia
Alabama

the least reggressive states (note, they are least regressive, not most PROgressive)
Delaware
Washington DC
New York
Vermont

[haele]

1. Washington - No income taxes, but big sales and property taxes -

So if you don't have a lawyer or an LLC to get you your loopholes, you pay big bucks to own a home or go shopping - and as for fees for DMV or court documents - oye, just as steep. So the poor get hammered with this fee or that tax, and the rich can go shopping in Oregon or Canada, where prices are lower.

However, if you're in the military stationed in, say Hawaii or California, it's a great state to be from - no state income tax.

Haele

[hfojvt]

2. South Dakota is the same way

except SD only taxes the poor at 11.5%, less than Illinois does and far less than Washington at 17.3%.

However, the surprising thing is, I would have expected Washington to have Democratic Governors and legislatures dominated by Democrats.

But I suppose local politics do not have to match Presidential ones. Kansas had a conservadem Governor for 8 years, and Wisconsin has had Republican Governors for about 16 of the last 24 years.

[hfojvt]

3. often there seems to be distressinly little interest in fiscal issues