WHY OH WYOMING
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The level of taxation is surprisingly uneven across the country, so if taxation is an important factor in your decision-making about where to live, here is a graph that ranks the best and worst states for taxes, according to personal finance site HowMuch.

Using the median US household income of $61,937, HowMuch created this ranking of the most and least tax-friendly states with weighted calculations of six different state tax categories: income, property, sales, fuel, wireless services and taxes on tobacco and alcohol. In the graph below, the states are ranked based on tax levels, starting with Wyoming, the most tax-friendly state, and ending with Illinois, the least tax-friendly. You can see a full-sized image of the graph here.

The top 10 most tax-friendly states are:

1. Wyoming
2. Delaware
3. Alaska
4. Montana
5. Nevada
6. New Hampshire
7. Tennessee
8. Florida
9. North Dakota
10. Hawaii

According to HowMuch, income tax plays a significant role in the overall tax burden residents face because it's a progressive tax in most states, which means the higher the income, the higher the tax rate for the taxpayer. Wyoming, Alaska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Florida, for instance, have no state income tax at all, which accounts for their places in the top 10 ranking. States like Delaware, Montana and New Hampshire have no sales tax, while Wyoming and Delaware both have fairly low property tax rates, charging around $600 per $100,000 of property value.

And in the other end of the spectrum, here are the 10 least tax-friendly states:

1. Illinois
2. New York
3. New Jersey
4. Connecticut
5. Pennsylvania
6. Nebraska
7. Ohio
8. Wisconsin
9. Kansas
10. Michigan

Illinois, in particular, has some of the highest property taxes among the states: for every $100,000 of property value, an average of $2,408 is taxed. Illinois taxpayers have to face a flat income rate of 4.79% and its taxes on wireless service is the highest among all the states. Unfortunately for Illinoisans, taxes are unlikely going to decrease anytime soon. In July this year, a new round of tax and fee hikes were imposed on Illinois taxpayers, which altogether will cost taxpayers a total of $2.1 billion.


[Read more at HowMuch]

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