The Census bureau released the 2004 tables for tax burden by state. (Thanks to Taxprofblog for pointing to it) The ranking system has been done since 1993 - which ranks the total tax collections and the per capita burden. In 1993 the per capita burden was $1375.74. By 2004 the per capita burden had grown to $2025.98 - which is almost a 50% increase in 11 years. The heavy duty taxers stay about the same - Hawaii, Minnesota, Connecticut, Delaware and Massachusetts are always in the top 10. New York, surprisingly bounces in and out. Michigan is also close to the top 10 when it is not there. California (at $2391.65 in 2004) is mostly in.
What does this tell us? In my mind, a couple of things. First, the Northeast has to live with its burden per capita. Second, the remarkably elastic revenue base in California has moved us around at various times. In the long term that elasticity (where personal income and corporate taxes are almost six times more elastic than the property tax) will hurt California competitively. When coupled with our housing affordability - that is not good for our long term economic vibrancy. Is anyone thinking about the elasticity problem? No, but why is that not a surprise?
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