No Sales Tax = Lower Tax Burden

CNN Money reported this week that Oregon ranks 37 of 50 states in state and local taxes paid as a proportion of personal income. This means our tax burden in relation to income is much lower than average. The other four states with no sales tax – New Hampshire, Alaska, Delaware, and Montana – rank even lower (better, if you don’t like taxes) than Oregon.

Note: Although Oregon is 37th of 50 states for taxes in relation to income, Portland is 16th highest of large cities. That may be due to business taxes and fees, since presumably the I-Tax ended before the period of calculation for the latest rankings.

MSN published an interesting analysis of the rankings. Seven states – Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming – don’t assess income taxes, while New Hampshire and Tennessee have income taxes on just dividends and interest. Of these, all are below Oregon (or just one above, for Nevada) on the rankings…. except Washington. The State of Washington is number 16 on the list – 16th highest taxes in relation to income.

These facts seem to suggest:

* The “three-legged stool” thing, i.e. asserting all three taxes (property, income, sales) are needed, may result in overall higher taxes.

* Vancouver cheaper/lower taxes than Portland? Maybe not.

It’s debatable whether being 37th of 50 states on this table is A Good Thing or not. It shows that Oregonians are not unreasonably taxed in comparison with other states. But since taxes buy services, it may indicate that Oregon has fallen behind in measures like funding for K-12 and higher education, social services, road and bridge repair…. y’know, the kinds of things civilized societies provide for all to enjoy.