Top 10 Tax-Friendly States: 2019

Anyone thinking of moving to another state might do well to examine Kiplinger's latest list of tax-friendly states. "This year's tax filing season was more nerve racking than most — it was the first time Americans had to deal with all the federal tax code changes made by the 2017 tax reform law," Kiplinger tax editor Rocky Mengle said in a statement. "The shakeup also makes it harder to tell how a person's state taxes line up with those of a similarly situated person in a neighboring state." To compile the 2019 list, Kiplinger editors used a formula to compare the tax burden in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. A state's tax friendliness was the sum of several taxes, including the typically most significant ones: income tax, property tax, sales tax and fuel tax. Six of the 10 tax-friendliest states had no state income tax, and two had no sales tax. Interestingly, two of these otherwise welcoming states had among the highest sales taxes in the country — in the 9% to 10% range — and two ranked among those with the highest gas taxes — in the 41 cents to 49 cents per gallon range. Kiplinger noted that its tax map was a companion project of its annual retiree tax map. Check out the gallery for Kiplinger's 10 tax-friendliest states in 2019. And if you or your clients are planning to move to escape high state taxes, beware: It's more complicated than it sounds. --- Related on ThinkAdvisor:

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