Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States
Description: This study assesses the fairness of each state’s tax system, measuring the state and local
taxes paid by different income groups in 2007 (including the impact of tax changes enacted
through October of 2009) as shares of income for every state and the District of Columbia.
The report provides valuable comparisons among the states, showing which states have done
the best — and the worst — job of providing a modicum of fairness in their tax systems overall.
The study’s main finding is that nearly every state and local tax system takes a much
greater share of income from middle- and low-income families than from the wealthy. That
is, when all state and local income, sales, excise and property taxes are added up, most state
tax systems are regressive.
