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Hopefully this new nugget will help get you through tax season: a WalletHub survey finds that Florida has one of the lowest tax rates in the United States.
And we’re not talking about income tax.
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WATCH HEREWalletHub analyzed state and local tax rates among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., and compared them to national medians to form the rankings.
“As this year’s tax-filing deadline, April 15, comes closer, it’s fair to wonder which states give their taxpayers more of a break – which is especially helpful during this period of high inflation,” the company writes in the study.
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So let’s get into it.
Florida ranks No. 8 among lowest state and local tax rates
WalletHub says Florida’s effective total state and local tax rates on the median U.S. household is just 8.67 percent.
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And if you adjust that based on the cost of living index, the Sunshine State ranks even higher at No. 6.
But that’s not all. Florida is also tied for lowest income tax and lowest vehicle property tax.
Where it doesn’t do as well is in real-estate property tax, coming it at No. 24.
Still, it could be worse.
Lowest and highest tax rates
The No. 1 spot for lowest effective total state and local tax rates is Alaska, with a low rate of 6.77 percent.
And at the bottom of the pack is Illinois, where the rate is 16.58 percent, WalletHub says.
"Taxpayers in the most tax-expensive states, for instance, pay over two times more than those in the cheapest states," the company writes.
And additionally, taxes are always going to exist in one for or another: "Surprisingly, though, low income taxes don’t always mean low taxes as a whole. For example, while the state of Washington’s citizens don’t pay income tax, they still end up spending nearly 9% of their annual income on sales and excise taxes. Texas residents also don’t pay income tax, but spend 1.58% of their income on real estate taxes, one of the highest rates in the country. Compare these to California, where residents owe almost 6% of their income in sales and excise taxes, and just 0.71% in real estate tax."
So if the only two certain things in this life are death and taxes, it appears one of those misfortunes is a little more bearable in Florida.
