These are the states with the highest and lowest tax burdens, a report says

Internal Revenue Service taxes forms are seen on Feb. 13, 2019.
Internal Revenue Service taxes forms are seen on Feb. 13, 2019.
Keith Srakocic/AP

This year's federal tax filing deadline of April 18 is quickly approaching, and Americans generally pay some mixture of federal, local, and in most cases, state taxes. But the tax burden of some states significantly outpaces others, data shows.

WalletHub, a personal finance website, released a report this week analyzing total tax burden by state. Tax burden is defined as the proportion of a person's income that goes toward taxes.

It measured a combination of the proportion of property tax, income tax and sales tax that people paid. These were the states with the highest and lowest tax burdens.

Highest tax burdens

  1. New York - 12.47 percent

  2. Hawaii - 12.31 percent

  3. Maine - 11.14 percent

  4. Vermont - 10.28 percent

  5. Connecticut - 9.83 percent

  6. New Jersey - 9.76 percent

  7. Maryland - 9.44 percent

  8. Minnesota - 9.41 percent

  9. Illinois - 9.38 percent

  10. Iowa - 9.15 percent

Lowest tax burdens

  1. Alaska - 5.06 percent

  2. Delaware - 6.12 percent

  3. New Hampshire - 6.14 percent

  4. Tennessee - 6.22 percent

  5. Florida - 6.33 percent

  6. Wyoming - 6.42 percent

  7. South Dakota - 6.69 percent

  8. Montana - 6.93 percent

  9. Missouri - 7.11 percent

  10. Oklahoma - 7.12 percent

When broken down by category, the states with the highest burden for property tax were Maine (5.33 percent), Vermont (4.98 percent) and New Hampshire (4.94 percent), while the lowest were Alabama (1.39 percent), Tennessee (1.66 percent) and Arkansas (1.68 percent).

The states with the highest burden for income tax are New York (4.72 percent), Maryland (4.21 percent) and Oregon (3.62 percent). There are seven states with no income tax – Nevada, Washington, South Dakota, Florida, Wyoming, Alaska and Texas.

The states with the highest sales tax burden are Hawaii (6.71 percent), Washington, (5.66 percent) and New Mexico (5.62 percent), while the states with the lowest sales tax burden are New Hampshire (1.07%), Delaware (1.09 percent) and Oregon (1.11 percent).

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Create a More Connected Minnesota

MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.