2017’s States with the Best & Worst Taxpayer ROI

by Tom Yamachika | posted in: 50-State Tax Maps | 0

Tax Day can be a painful reminder of our large investment in the operation of federal, state and local governments, though many of us are unaware of their precise roles in everyday life. As a result, this creates a disconnect in the minds of taxpayers between the amount of money we should fork over every April and how much we ultimately deserve in return from our government.

Perhaps that’s why nearly three out of five U.S. adults feel they pay too much in taxes and why Americans estimate that Uncle Sam wastes slightly more than half of every tax dollar — higher than what they approximate state and local governments squander. We do know, however, that taxpayer return on investment, or ROI, varies significantly based on simple geography. Federal income-tax rates are uniform across the nation, yet some states receive far more federal funding than others. But federal taxes and support are only part of the story.

Ideological differences regarding the role of local taxation have resulted in dramatically different tax burdens. This begs the question of whether people in high-tax states benefit from expectedly superior government services or if low-tax states are more efficient or receive correspondingly low-quality services. In short, where do taxpayers get the most and least bang for their buck?

WalletHub sought to answer that question by contrasting state and local tax collections with the quality of the services residents receive in each of the 50 states within five categories: Education, Health, Safety, Economy, and Infrastructure & Pollution. Their data set includes a total of 23 key metrics. Read on for findings, methodology and commentary from a panel of experts.

Source: WalletHub

‘Taxpayer ROI’ Rank	State	‘Total Taxes Paid per Capita’ Rank*	‘Overall Government Services’ Rank
1	New Hampshire	2	5
2	South Dakota	9	16
3	Florida	3	34
4	Virginia	15	8
5	Alaska	1	50
6	Colorado	14	11
7	Utah	18	10
8	Missouri	5	37
9	Texas	12	28
10	Nebraska	28	4
11	Georgia	8	39
12	Idaho	19	18
13	Iowa	36	3
14	Arizona	11	38
15	Wisconsin	35	6
16	Tennessee	4	42
17	South Carolina	6	41
18	Kansas	29	13
19	Ohio	13	27
20	Indiana	22	20
21	Alabama	7	45
22	Maine	31	14
23	Kentucky	20	26
24	Michigan	24	24
25	Pennsylvania	26	22
26	North Carolina	17	36
27	Washington	34	21
28	Rhode Island	33	23
29	Oregon	21	33
30	Illinois	37	19
31	Montana	27	30
32	Oklahoma	16	40
33	New Jersey	40	12
34	Louisiana	10	48
35	Minnesota	47	1
36	Maryland	39	25
37	Massachusetts	43	15
38	Connecticut	46	7
39	Mississippi	23	46
40	West Virginia	30	43
41	Vermont	49	2
42	Nevada	25	47
43	Wyoming	45	17
44	Delaware	41	29
45	Arkansas	38	44
46	New York	42	31
47	California	44	32
48	New Mexico	32	49
49	Hawaii	48	35
50	North Dakota	50	9