by J.D. Davidson
A new report ranks Ohio with one of the worst overall tax rates in the country as the tax filing deadline approaches.
The report, released by the personal finance website WalletHub, was teamed with the group’s annual taxpayer survey, which showed more than 70% of Americans believe more tax relief is necessary because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic will contribute to some Americans not paying their taxes on time this year. According to a new WalletHub survey, 44 million Americans expect that they will pay their taxes late due to the pandemic,” Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst, said.
Ohioans, according to the report, deal with the some of the worst tax rates in four out of five key areas.
The state ranked 43rd in overall effective state and local taxes and 49th in income tax. Ohio’s real estate tax is 39th in the country, and its sales and excise taxes rank 32nd.
All that comes after Gov. Mike DeWine signed into a law in July a budget that included a 3% across-the-board income tax reduction.
“Ohio has the ninth-highest tax rates in the country. Its residents pay more than $8,000 annually on real estate, income and sales taxes,” Gonzalez said. “The overall high tax rate is due mostly to the fact that the state has a very high income tax, which takes up 3.14% of the income of middle income earners.”
There is good news in the report for the state, however, and it comes in the vehicle property tax area. Ohio ranks best overall with the vehicle property tax.
Aside from the idea of tax relief, the taxpayer survey showed 81% of the people responding believe government does not spend their tax dollars wisely and half the people would move to a different state to avoid taxes.
The states with the best overall tax rates include Alaska, Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Wyoming. The states with the worst were Illinois, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Kansas.
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An Ohio native, J.D. Davidson is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience in newspapers in Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. He has served as a reporter, editor, managing editor and publisher. Davidson is a regional editor for The Center Square.
Photo “Tax Return” by 401(K) 2012. CC BY-SA 2.0.
