Yahoo Finance: These taxes get little attention — but hurt ordinary people the most
media mention“Flip on cable news, and it’s a pretty safe bet some pundit will be howling about taxes assessed by Uncle Sam. But taxes at the state and local level—which get a lot less attention—are the ones causing the most pain for millions of Americans.
A new study by the nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds that the lowest 20% of earners pay 10.9% of their income in state and local taxes, on average. For a family earning $30,000 a year, that’s $3,270 in taxes. In the most heavy-handed state — Washington — the same income group pays 16.8% of its income in state and local taxes. At the federal level, the tax burden on people in that same income bracket is effectively zero, by contrast, although low earners do have taxes deducted from their paychecks to help fund Social Security and Medicare.”