State Tax Collection Methods Studied : To Move or Not to Move

Most people don't understand taxes or taxing but find no problem complaining about them when the bill comes due. Given that taxes are here to stay, it would behoove us to take some interest in how they are collected and for what purpose and then how they are spent.

Also, as this article points out, some states use different methods in their collection of taxes. What is needed are some fact sheets on each method and then make a concerted effort on the part our politicians with citizen input to use the most efficient one.

Of courser this make good sense, but this most likely means it will never be tried.

Map of State Tax Collections
Source: Liz Malm and Richard Borean, "Map: State and Local Individual Income Tax Collections Per Capita," Tax Foundation, May 8, 2014.

May 12, 2014

New York collected $2,289 per person in individual state and local income tax collections in 2011, according to a new map from the Tax Foundation's Liz Malm and Richard Borean.
Using 2011 figures, the most recent tax data available, Malm and Borean calculated each state's per capita income taxes, including both state and local collections. The average collection -- which included wage and salary taxes as well as investment income taxes -- was $918 per person.

• Six states (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming) do not have an individual income tax, while New Hampshire and Tennessee only tax investment income.
• New York collected the most of all the states, at $2,289 per capita. Behind New York was Maryland (at $1,823 per capita), Connecticut ($1,806), Massachusetts ($1,761), Oregon ($1,426), Minnesota ($1,404), Delaware ($1,360), California ($1,347), New Jersey ($1,204), and Virginia ($1,182).
• Tennessee collects just $30 per person, and New Hampshire collects only $63, as the states only tax investment income. Of the states with broader income taxes, Arizona collects the least amount of taxes, at $445 per capita. Mississippi ($470), Louisiana ($527), and New Mexico ($529) follow behind Arizona.
• Ninety-one percent of state and local tax collections are state-level taxes. Only 13 states collect local income taxes, including Maryland, where local income tax collections represent 30.4 percent of local tax revenue.

The National Center for Policy Analysis has developed a State Tax Calculator that allows an individual to calculate his personal tax burden and determine whether he would save or lose money by moving to another state.