The Republic of Taxes

This video is part of our Kite & Key Shorts series—easy to understand...but hard to forget.

How’s your bank account looking?

The answer may depend just as much on where you live as how much you make

While all Americans are subject to the same federal taxes, taxes at the state and local level vary widely.

Some states don’t have income taxes.ⁱ

A few don’t have sales taxes.ⁱⁱ

Because no two places do taxation exactly the same, it can be difficult to make comparison.

But one measure is how much of residents’ total income gets taken by state and local taxes.

The places where it’s the highest?ⁱⁱⁱ

#5 — Minnesota (12.1%)

#4 — Vermont (12.3%)

#3 — Hawaii (12.7%)

#2 — Connecticut (12.8%)

#1 — New York (14.1%)

The places where it’s the lowest?^iv

#5 — Oklahoma (8.2%)

#4 — Texas (8%)

#3 — Tennessee (7%)

#2 — Wyoming (7%)

#1 — Alaska (5.8%)

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

1. Tax rates and types of taxation vary widely between states. 
2. New York has the highest state-local tax burden at 14.1%. 
3. Alaska has the lowest state-local tax burden at 5.8%.