The United States of America was founded in part to break away from taxation without representation (to put it in a shallow fashion, anyway).
The discussion of taxes hasn’t exactly dissipated since the late 1700s, though. This is more so exacerbated by the difference in tax rates between each state, which can of course range from the extremely high to the very low.
For Pennsylvanians, the Keystone State errs on the “extremely high” end of the spectrum. In fact, a recent study found that Pennsylvania ranks among the top five states with the highest tax rates in the whole country.
Conducted and published by WalletHub, the study ranks Pennsylvanian at number 48 on a list of all 50 states plus Washington D.C. with the lowest tax rates (so if the study was flipped and focused on the states with the highest taxes, that’s how Pennsylvania ranks upon the top five). The states that join Pennsylvania with tax rates that would have allowed King George III to recover from several French and Indian Wars would be Kansas (number 47); New York (number 49); Connecticut (number 50) and Illinois (number 51).
On the other hand, the states with the lowest tax rates (and thus the true rebels) are Wyoming (number five); Nevada (number four); Montana (number three); Delaware (number two); and Alaska (number one).
In order to come to these conclusions, WalletHub took a look at four types of taxation: real-estate tax; vehicle property tax; income tax; and sales and excise tax. From there they were able to average out which state landed where on the final tax rate list.
The study also found other interesting tidbits that related to a state’s high or low tax rate. For example, the study found that red states on average tax lower than blue states. Additionally, those states that tax highly on items such as gas or cigarettes tended to accumulate higher total averages.
Let’s just hope those pesky British don’t get any ideas from America’s discussions of tax rates, lest they see an opportunity to once again resume control.