Erin Carlyle After this you might want to consider moving.
Comparing states income tax rates is a
bit tricky, since taxation approaches vary widely. Many states have a
graduated system — the most complicated one is Hawaii with 12 different
rates for income in different brackets. Eight states charge residents
the same flat percentage of their incomes regardless of how large their
salaries are, including Colorado (4.63% of federal taxable income),
Indiana (3.75%), and Illinois (3.3%). And there are seven states that
don’t levy an income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas,
Washington and Wyoming.
To come up with the cleanest comparison possible, we calculated the effective tax rate for single taxpayers earning a taxable income of $50,000. Why this number? Well, it’s pretty average. From 2009 to 2013, the median American household income was $53,046, according to Census data, so it’s plausible that with some states’ standard deduction rates (which can range from $0 in Ohio to $10,250 for Wisconsin), a single-earner household making the median income might land at a taxable $50,000. We were able to perform the number-crunch thanks to 2015 tax data provided by the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank that tracks tax policy.
To come up with the cleanest comparison possible, we calculated the effective tax rate for single taxpayers earning a taxable income of $50,000. Why this number? Well, it’s pretty average. From 2009 to 2013, the median American household income was $53,046, according to Census data, so it’s plausible that with some states’ standard deduction rates (which can range from $0 in Ohio to $10,250 for Wisconsin), a single-earner household making the median income might land at a taxable $50,000. We were able to perform the number-crunch thanks to 2015 tax data provided by the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank that tracks tax policy.