Ohioans Pay 8th-Highest Rates in State, Local Taxes

WASHINGTON – Ohioans pay the eighth-highest rate in state and local taxes, Pennsylvanians 13th-highest, among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, says a WalletHub report released Tuesday.

Pennsylvanians have the distinction of paying the most per gallon in gasoline taxes, the report says.

WalletHub, based here, is a personal finance site launched in August 2013 that has since expanded by producing research reports and surveys.

The report on state and local taxation, released yesterday, ranks the states and District of Columbia from lowest to highest in the rates and amounts their average households pay, including taxes on real estate, gasoline, cigarettes, vehicles and food carried out.

Lead author is John S. Kiernan, senior writer and editor at Evolution Finance, parent of WalletHub.

WalletHub is the source of all statistics and rankings below.

Alaskans pay the lowest state and local taxes, 5.69% of the median household income, or $3,066, while resident of Illinois have the highest burden. There the average household pays 14.54% of its income in state and local taxes, $7,836 on average. Nebraskans come in second, the average household there paying $7,466, or 13.85% of its income.

Ohio households have an effective state and local tax rate of 12.97%, or remitting $6,991 to Columbus and their municipal governments. This is 21.19% above the national average. After weighing in other factors, such as the Consumer Price Index, Ohio households’ adjusted ranking is 16th-highest.

The effective Ohio income tax rate is 3.34%, in Pennsylvania, 3.90%.

Ohio’s effective real estate tax rate is 5.06% of household income, Pennsylvania’s 4.91%.

Residents of Hawaii have the lowest residential real estate tax rate, 0.91% and pay $489 on average each year. Alabama is second, 1.42%, or $764 a year, followed by Louisiana, 1.56% or $841 a year, Delaware, 1.72% for $929 and District of Columbia, 1.87% for $1,005 annually.

Residents of New Jersey have the highest rate, 7.48%, and the average household in the Garden State pays $4,029 a year in property taxes.

The worst state for taxes on food sold for carryout is Tennessee, followed by Mississippi. Ohio and Pennsylvania, as with 33 other states, do not impose a tax on food carried outside a retailer’s premises.

Nor do Ohio and Pennsylvania charge a vehicle tax on top of fees for license plate.

As mentioned, Pennsylvania has the highest tax per gallon of gasoline, four times as much as the lowest, Alaska.

Residents of Washington state pay the second-highest per gallon of gasoline followed by New York, Hawaii and California. Alaskans pay the lowest tax per gallon, followed by New Jersey, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Missouri.

The disparity factor in taxes paid for a pack of 20 cigarettes is 26: residents of New York state pay 26 times as much in state taxes for a pack of cigarettes as residents of Missouri, which has the lowest rate.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.