Illinois Named Absolute Worst State For Taxpayers

As Monday's tax deadline gets ever closer some people are scrambling to get their taxes filed, and it seems that some states are pulling more weight than others.

This article from Yahoo Finance cites four ways of a state's taxation: Real-Estate Tax, Vehicle Property Tax, Income Tax, and Sales & Excise Tax. They also looked at each state's Return on Investment (ROI) by examining multiple factors: Education, Health, Safety. Pollution and Economy. From this they ranked each state accordingly.

They found that Illinois is the worst state overall when you average out all those taxes. Which isn't that big of a shock to me. It seems they're finding more and more ways to tax its citizens.

What DID surprise me, however, was that Iowa came in at number 10. I'd love to see a full breakdown because I'm not sure I buy that.

"For the most part, lower tax states have a better ROI. [But] there are exceptions, like Utah or Wisconsin, but, in general, states that pay lower taxes and benefit from good quality government services have a higher ROI,"

-Jill Gonzalez, Wallethub Analyst

The 10 WORST states for taxpayers:

1. Illinois
2. Connecticut
3. Pennsylvania
4. New York
5. Nebraska
6. Kansas
7. Wisconsin
8. Rhode Island
9. Ohio
10. Iowa

The 10 BEST states for taxpayers:

1. Alaska
2. Delaware
3. Montana
4. Wyoming
5. Nevada
6. Utah
7. Florida
8. Idaho
9. Colorado
10. Tennessee

I was also surprised to see that they rank California at number 12. As in being the 12th best state for taxpayers. In reality I thought they'd be right up there with Illinois.

You can see it all for yourself at Yahoo Finance.