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March 27, 2019

Survey: CT taxpayers pay more, get less

PHOTO | Shutterstock.com
By Michael C. Bingham

Thank goodness for Illinois.

Connecticut taxpayers bear the nation’s second most onerous tax burden — 14.4 percent of median household income surrendered to state and local tax collectors.

So concludes the personal finance website WalletHub in a survey released earlier this month. Only the Land of Lincoln, where the effective state and local tax rate is a combined 14.9 percent of annual median household income, is worse.

Where is it better? Nutmeg State taxpayers can only dream. Or, they can pack up their down vests and move to Alaska, where the average effective state and local tax burden is a light and tight 5.7 percent — best in the nation.

But what do Connecticut taxpayers actually get for such a hefty “investment” in state and local government? For the big bucks we pay, we expect the best and most of the services government delivers, right?

Not exactly. In measuring return on investment (ROI) for state and local taxes, Connecticut ranked 41st in the nation, according to the latest WalletHub survey, released this week.

WalletHub compared the quality of government services received by residents to the total state and local taxes they pay in each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

The website used 30 metrics to compare the quality and efficiency of state-government services across five categories — education, health, safety, economy, and infrastructure/pollution — factoring into account the dramatically different rates at which citizens are taxed in each state.

In calculating that ranking, WalletHub ranked Connecticut 46th in the nation for total taxes paid per capita (meaning only four states paid more), but No. 6 in terms of average government services delivered per capita.

But hey — we’re a rich state, right? And that reality is reflected in some different WalletHub rankings. For example, Connecticut had the third-lowest percentage of residents in poverty (New Hampshire ranked numero uno). And we also ranked No. 3 in the nation for best public school systems, behind Massachusetts and New Jersey.

The full state-by-state WalletHub rankings are available here. 

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