The short answer is not very well. Among the 50 states New Jersey is number 2 behind its neighboring state of New York. Rather than try to compare all 50 states to New Jersey and all the many taxes levied, let’s look at it compared to the only state that suffers from more taxation and another state that has the least tax burden levied against its citizens. That state is Alaska.
The Tax Foundation started ranking state tax burdens in 1977. Over the years New Jersey has consistently ranked in the Top Five of the states with the highest tax burden. In comparing New Jersey Taxes to New York and Alaska the indicators used to compare were:
• Taxes paid by percentage of income
• State and Local total taxes collected
• Percentage of total taxes paid by residents
• Percentage of total taxes paid by non-residents.
New Yorkers live in the only state that has a higher tax burden than New Jersey:
• Taxes paid by percentage of income: 12.8%
• State and Local total taxes collected: $ 136.4 Billion ( 2nd highest)
• Percentage of total taxes paid by residents 73.3%
• Percentage of total taxes paid by non-residents: 26.7%
New Jersey’s Numbers are only slightly better than New York’s:
• Taxes paid by percentage of income: 12.4%
• State and Local total taxes collected: $ 51.10 Billion (7th Highest)
• Percentage of total taxes paid by residents :81.4% ( 3rd highest)
• Percentage of total taxes paid by non-residents: 18.6% ( 3rd Lowest)
Now compare and contrast those numbers to Alaska, which is the state with the lowest tax burden in the USA:
• Taxes paid by percentage of income: 7.0%
• State and Local total taxes collected: $ 6.17 Billion ( 11th lowest)
• Percentage of total taxes paid by residents: 24.5% ( lowest)
• Percentage of total taxes paid by non-residents: 75.5% ( highest)
New Jersey residents are hit with a higher tax burden than most states, considering that their income range is lower than many other states, their tax revenue would appear to be working very hard to squeeze the last penny out of its residents. Indeed, the most basic tax homeowners pay, their property tax is the highest in the entire USA at an average of $2,671 per household.
The state with the lowest tax burden also has a large tax revenue base with 75.5% of the total taxes paid to the state by non-residents due to income from the large oil industry base. And then when you flip the table to look at the only state with a higher tax burden than New Jersey, that being New York, they at least have a larger amount of funds going into the coffers at 136.24 Billion. The residents pay higher taxes, but they also have a larger income base from which to collect.
So, to answer the title question after all the evidence used comparing the only state with a greater burden and the state with the least burden, shows that New Jersey residents don’t fair very well, thank you very much.
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