By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
The tax burden on Illinoisans continues to worsen.
Illinoisans now pay the nation’s 7th-highest combined state and local taxes, according to the latest state-by-state data released by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. Illinois’ effective tax rate for 2022 is now 12.9 percent.
That’s a significant jump compared to pre-pandemic 2019 when Illinois’ effective tax rate was 11.2 percent – the nation’s 13th-highest rate.
The Tax Foundation defined a state’s tax burden as “state and local taxes paid by a state’s residents divided by that state’s share of net national product.”
Illinoisans’ tax burden is one of the nation’s highest no matter how you measure it. WalletHub, the personal finance company, calculates that Illinoisans pay the highest effective tax rates in the country. And financial advisor Kiplinger recently declared Illinois the “Least Tax-Friendly State” for middle-class families.
Top 10, bottom 10
Illinois is in the company of other deep blue states with high tax rates, including New York, Connecticut, California and New Jersey. Those states are in the top 10 for the highest burdens.
Redder, faster-growing states make up the list of the lowest-taxing states. Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina and Georgia – all among the biggest winners of residents and their wealth in 2021 – have some of the lowest taxes.
All of our neighbors pay far lower taxes than we do. Our lowest-taxing neighbor is Michigan, where the effective rate is just 8.6 percent, the nation’s 6th-lowest.
Missouri and Indiana are next with a rate of 9.3 percent, then Kentucky (9.6 percent) and Wisconsin (10.9 percent). Iowa has the highest rate at 11.2 percent. It’s ranked 17th-highest, ten spots away from Illinois.
Illinoisans can expect their tax ranking to worsen further as a growing collection of states enact significant tax cuts. Georgia, South Carolina and Kentucky are moving forward on income tax reductions. And Iowa just passed its own record income tax cut.
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the state and local officials who’ve supported higher taxes have a lot to answer for. A combination of tax hikes and the state’s draconian COVID policies have pushed Illinois’ tax burden to the 7th-highest in the nation.
The Tax Foundation’s work is just further proof that Illinoisans need real tax relief, not just the tiny election-year breaks the Pritzker administration is selling.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Five reasons why Gov. Pritzker’s gas tax “relief” isn’t relief at all
- New Kiplinger report crowns Illinois as nation’s “Least Tax-Friendly State” for middle-class families
- Four reasons why the state pension buyout program is problematic for taxpayers
- Illinois carjacking bill falls short; organized retail crime measure more promising
- Pension obligation bonds prioritize public sector workers, stiff taxpayers
- Mass incarceration: a weaponized myth
- Lawmakers vote to subsidize Illinois’ border communities. It’s a failed strategy.
The politicians have a lot to answer for? Not with the window dressing $1.8B tax cut measure that will land on Gov’s desk. They and the MSM will happily tout this gift to the peasants, despite it’s a pittance and it’s temporary. It’s an election year! See what we did for you? And the chumbalones will vote in lockstep for yet another four years of Democrat rule.
Interesting. Would appreciate some WP/peanut gallery commentary on the methodology. I seem to recall relatively recent studies/reports (maybe Wallethub’s) that had different rankings. Does this approach give enough weight to state income taxes? What is the most comprehensive/accurate approach? Move to Puerto Rico? lol
Good article at Natural News about the mayor and Chicago and taxes
https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-04-07-chicago-taxpayers-on-the-hook-millions-in-gas-handouts.html
Thanks, posting it.
Thanks. Very helpful article. Does it occur to Lori and other Dems that people are driving to work because of crime on the CTA despite sky high gas prices !? Fix that!