US cities with the highest taxesSubmitted by Accomplished_Day2991 t3_120h12y in jerseycity
Blecher_onthe_Hudson t1_jdiq29o wrote
You cannot compare just property taxes when comparing states. You need to look at 'total tax burden'. Some places use heavy sales and excise taxes instead of RE taxes, and it ends up very regressive. Note the difference between FL, always touted as low tax, & NJ is only 4%. But if you're wealthy, it goes up a lot because of no income tax.
moobycow t1_jdjhio5 wrote
Not even just total tax burden, total tax burden by income bracket varies greatly. Most income levels in CA have lower taxes than in Texas.
uieLouAy t1_jdmoy8a wrote
This. Lots of “tax burden” comparisons purposefully distort the rankings by only using the top marginal rate even though almost no one actually pays that.
New Jersey’s income tax is very progressive, so if you’re low- or middle-income you’re likely paying less than you would in many “low tax” states. It’s only folks who make over $1 million per year that pay the highest tax rate, and even then it’s only applied to every dollar made over $1 million.
pixel_of_moral_decay t1_jdmc62l wrote
Yup.
Most high income earners don’t even work in NJ.
And almost the entire states population is no more than an hour from an at least one other state, so sales tax can’t be much higher than an adjacent state.
People also forget our effective sales tax is actually lower than it’s listed since so many daily items like food are excluded. Not to mention UEZ’s are a short drive for many (and walk for those who live in JC).
If sales taxes were higher we’d all just cross state lines for any bigger purchases.
Property taxes are basically all NJ has to generate revenue.
That’s the economics of being a small landmass between 3 major metro areas (people forget some in south Jersey commute go Baltimore/Washington for work).
NY meanwhile can use sales tax and income tax much more heavily. Most of its population can’t easily travel to another state. Even in NYC most people aren’t capable of easily crossing over and taking goods back, lack of vehicles, or too much traffic. NJ to Queens is a trek for example, by car or transit. LI to NJ is a real terrible drive. So people won’t bother for the most part. NJ does get some Brooklyn/SI residents in our malls for things like back to school shopping and Ikea.
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