Study: Local taxes hit lower wage earners harder
By Patricia Cohen, New York Times
When it comes to the taxes closest to home, the less you earn, the harder you’re hit.
That is the conclusion of an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that evaluates the local tax burden in every state, from Washington, labeled the most regressive, to Delaware, ranked as the fairest of them all.
According to the study, in 2015 the poorest fifth of Americans will pay on average 10.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the middle fifth will pay 9.4 percent and the top 1 percent will average 5.4 percent.
The trend is growing worse, said Meg Wiehe, state policy director at the institute, a nonpartisan research organization based in the nation’s capital. Several states have adopted or are considering policy changes that further lighten the tax load on their wealthiest residents, she said.