2019’s States with the Best & Worst Taxpayer ROI

From WalletHub, Mar 26, 2019

Tax Day can be a painful reminder of how much we have to invest in federal, state and local governments, though many of us are unaware of exactly what they give us in return. 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 deserve in return.

Perhaps that’s why, according to WalletHub’s Taxpayer Survey, 55% of U.S. adults feel they pay too much in taxes and why 90% don’t think that the government uses tax revenue wisely. We do know, however, that taxpayer return on investment, or ROI, varies based where one lives. 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.

Different states have dramatically different tax burdens. This begs the question of whether people in high-tax states receive superior government services. Likewise, are low-tax states more efficient or do they receive low-quality services? In short, where do taxpayers get the most and least bang for their buck?

WalletHub aimed 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….

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Hawaii

• 50 -- ‘Taxpayer ROI’ Rank (1=Best)
• 50 -- ‘Total Taxes Paid per Capita’ Rank*
• 22 -- ‘Overall Government Services’ Rank
• 56.24 -- Total Government Services Score
• 37 -- ‘Education’ Rank
• 9 -- ‘Health’ Rank
• 20 -- ‘Safety’ Rank
• 14 -- ‘Economy’ Rank
• 37 -- ‘Infrastructure & Pollution’ Rank 

HNN: Report: Hawaii residents pay the most in taxes, but don’t get much in return