Ranked: Best and Worst States for Income Tax
by Christina Lavingia, GO Banking Rates, February 4, 2015 (excerpts)
Although it is an annual ritual, filing taxes isn't always simple or straightforward. You might be one of the millions of Americans affected by changes to the tax code due to the Affordable Care Act. Maybe your life circumstances have changed since you last filed, or you moved and now have to deal with a whole new state tax code.
To help you understand how state income taxes affect you this year, GOBankingRates reports on six factors that affect your state income filing: the rate associated with your income bracket; the standard deduction amount, personal exemption per filer, exemption per dependent, whether the state income tax is deducted based on net or gross income post federal filing, and whether local income taxes are applicable in each of the 50 states.
State Income Taxes From Worst to Best
Here's a ranking of the state income tax in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, from worst to best. The states are ranked by the effective income tax rate a person making the median income in that state could expect to pay, given a single filer with no dependents, who already filed a federal return and took the standard deduction available.
The following calculations were made based on 2014 state tax info courtesy of TaxFoundation.org, accurate as of January 2014 and updated for March 21, 2014. City- and county-level income taxes were not taken into account, and while deductions, exemptions, and tax credits were all calculated as accurately as possible, we are not able to account for recent changes to tax law at the state level, inflation adjustments and cost of living adjustments....
read ... Best and Worst States for Income Tax
2. Hawaii State Income Tax
Single Filers
Tax rate by income bracket:
| 1.4% |
> |
$0 |
| 3.2% |
> |
$2,400 |
| 5.5% |
> |
$4,800 |
| 6.4% |
> |
$9,600 |
| 6.8% |
> |
$14,400 |
| 7.2% |
> |
$19,200 |
| 7.6% |
> |
$24,000 |
| 7.9% |
> |
$36,000 |
| 8.25% |
> |
$48,000 |
| 9.00% |
> |
$150,000 |
| 10.00% |
> |
$175,000 |
| 11.00% |
> |
$200,000 |
Standard deduction: $2,200
Personal exemptions per filer and per dependent: $1,144
Joint Filers
Tax rate by income bracket:
| 1.40% |
> |
$0 |
| 3.20% |
> |
$4,800 |
| 5.50% |
> |
$9,600 |
| 6.40% |
> |
$19,200 |
| 6.80% |
> |
$28,800 |
| 7.20% |
> |
$38,400 |
| 7.60% |
> |
$48,000 |
| 7.90% |
> |
$72,000 |
| 8.25% |
> |
$96,000 |
| 9.00% |
> |
$300,000 |
| 10.00% |
> |
$350,000 |
| 11.00% |
> |
$400,000 |
Standard deduction: $4,400
Personal exemptions per filer and per dependent: $1,144
For Hawaii residents, federal tax payments are not deducted before state tax payments are due. Residents don't owe other local income taxes.
A single filer earning Hawaii's median income of $61,408 can expect to pay $4,043.88 in state income taxes, the highest dollar amount of any state, or 6.59% of his income.