As Tax Day — April 15 — attracts nearer, WalletHub, a private finance web site, checked out what proportion of earnings that prime, medium and low earners throughout the nation spend on gross sales and excise taxes, property taxes and earnings taxes.
WalletHub generated estimates of the state-specific tax burden on residents at three earnings ranges — low ($25,000), medium ($50,000) and excessive ($150,000) — in every of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Researchers used knowledge from the Institute on Taxation and Financial Coverage’s 2024 report, which revealed tax burden estimates at seven factors within the state-specific earnings distribution.
With a view to evaluate tax burdens for households on the similar earnings stage throughout states, the researchers match a regression mannequin to estimate the connection between earnings and tax burden for every state and the District of Columbia. They used log transformations to enhance mannequin match and deployed this mannequin to generate predicted tax burdens on the earnings ranges they examined.
The share of earnings that taxpayers contribute towards tax obligations varies by state. In most states, low- and middle-income households pay a better share of earnings than do rich households. This regressive impact owes partly to the absence of a graduated private earnings tax in lots of states and a reliance on consumption taxes.
Nonetheless, in a dozen states, the tax burden on excessive earners is onerous. It’s additionally price noting that in half of those states, low earners put out the bottom amount of cash in taxes.
See the accompanying gallery for the 12 states through which excessive earners pay the most important proportion of their earnings on taxes, in accordance with WalletHub.