Illinois Tax Burden Among Highest In The Country

By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square

ILLINOIS — A study reveals that Illinois is in the top 10 in the country for the highest tax burden on its residents.

The personal finance website WalletHub reports Illinois has the 9th highest overall tax burden at a 9.3 percent share of personal income.

“We are not only looking at the actual tax rate by state, property, individual income and excise taxes, but we’re comparing that to the personal income in the state,” analyst Jill Gonzalez said.

Illinois is 10th in the country for the highest property tax burden, and in the top half of states for individual income tax and total sales and excise tax burden.

Republican lawmakers recently introduced measures to ease the tax burden on Illinoisans. State Sen. Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles, would like to permanently get rid of the state sales tax on groceries, prescription drugs and medical devices.

“We are letting struggling Illinois families know that we hear them, we understand them and we are attempting to respond to their pleas for help,” DeWitte said.

In the Midwest, Iowa has the 10th highest tax burden, and Wisconsin is at number 17 followed by Indiana at 18th, according to the study. Missouri has the 42nd highest tax burden, with just over a 7 percent share of personal income.

The states with the highest tax burdens on their citizens included New York, Hawaii and Maine. The three states with the lowest burden are Alaska, Delaware and New Hampshire.

The study also found that Republican-majority states have a lower tax burden than Democrat-majority states.

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