Mar 14

2025 State Tax Competitiveness Index Full Study

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But one thing that makes Wyoming stand out is that they also don’t charge a corporate income tax. The Evergreen State gets its nickname from its lush forests — but it might also be an inside joke for all the money its residents save by not paying income tax. However, Washington residents will still have to pay a 6.5% sales tax. States with maximum income tax rates of at least 5% but less than 6% are Rhode Island, New Mexico, Idaho, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, Kansas, Alabama, and Mississippi.

state income tax rates ranked

States with the highest and lowest property tax rates

state income tax rates ranked

Wyoming is another state that has low taxes, on top of its beautiful views. There’s no income tax in the Cowboy State and the sales tax is only 5.44%. That’s a huge shift from other no-income-tax states that make up the revenue difference by charging a high sales tax.

  • The average direct deposit refund was also up by 7.1% from last year – at an average of $3,505.
  • States that receive the worst scores are Virginia, Alaska, Nevada, Illinois, South Carolina, and Wyoming.
  • New York finished a phaseout of the state’s capital stock tax as of January 1, 2021, but the legislature decided to temporarily reinstate the tax due to coronavirus-related budget concerns.
  • Texas offers a deduction for either the cost of goods sold or employee compensation but not both.

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state income tax rates ranked

Fidelity Investments indicates that this state imposes some of the highest income tax rates in the country on personal income as of December 2024. When you think about the most expensive places to live, Oregon usually isn’t one of them. However, it does have one of the highest income tax rates in the country. That doesn’t include some localities that charge their own local income tax. Consumption taxes that are levied instead at each stage of production are known as value-added taxes (VAT) and are popular internationally.

  • 7% long-term capital gains tax on profits above the state’s standard deduction.
  • Or, get unlimited help and advice from tax experts while you do your taxes with TurboTax Live Assisted.
  • While low rates may be enticing, the benefits of well-funded public services in areas with higher rates can contribute significantly to property values and quality of life.
  • Consequently, the logic goes, if the federal government provides a deduction for state and local taxes, it is implicitly preferencing government-provided services (untaxed) over other forms of income (taxed).

Corporate income taxes

  • These states generally have low property tax rates, measured as a percentage of income.
  • (set at $15,000 for single filers and $30,000 for joint filers in 2025) while suspending the personal exemption by reducing it to $0 through 2025.
  • Alabama and Louisiana have the highest average local option sales taxes (5.29 and 5.12 percent, respectively), and in both states the average local option sales tax is higher than the state sales tax rate.
  • LendingTree researchers analyzed federal individual income tax returns filed from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2023, for the tax year 2022 — the latest full-year data available — from the IRS Statistics of Income program.
  • Nine states have these taxes on the books, though they fall under a variety of names.

Idaho has a 1% income tax rate, ranking it among the states with relatively low income tax rates. The District of Columbia has a 4% income tax rate, ranking it among the places with the highest income tax rates in the US. Delaware has a 2.20% income tax rate, ranking it among the states with relatively low income tax rates. Connecticut has a 3% income tax rate, making it one of the states with relatively low income tax rates. California has a 1% income tax rate, making it one of the states with relatively low income tax rates. Arizona has a 2.59% income tax rate, placing it among the states with relatively low income tax rates.

  • New York has a 4% income tax rate, making it one of the states with the highest income tax rates in the US.
  • The remaining states with corporate income taxation do not allow deductions for foreign taxes paid and thus score poorly.
  • Whereas a personal SALT deduction is a tax preference, the corporate SALT deduction is innate to structure of a tax on net income.
  • Beginning in 2025, Iowa will fully repeal its inheritance tax and implement a 3.8 percent flat individual income tax, both of which will substantially improve the state’s rankings.

States with the lowest combined sales taxes:

Also, residents still have to pay a high sales tax rate — 8.53% on average. While these measures are not ideal—having effective tax rates of personal and real property for both businesses and individuals would be preferable—they are the best measures available due to the significant data constraints regarding property tax collections. Since a high percentage of property taxes are levied at the local level, there are countless jurisdictions.

The sheer number of different localities makes data collection virtually impossible. The few studies that tackle the subject use representative towns or cities instead of the entire state. Thus, the best source for data on property taxes is the Census Bureau, because it can compile the data and reconcile definitional problems. At the state income tax rates other end of the spectrum, Washington, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, and California fare the worst, imposing high rates and taxing a range of business inputs, such as utilities, services, manufacturing, and leases—and maintaining relatively high excise taxes.