On April 17, Uncle Sam will once again take his cut of the past year’s earnings. And many Kane County taxpayers are already wondering how that will affect their finances.

One simple ratio known as the “tax burden” helps cut through the confusion. Unlike tax rates, which vary widely based on an individual’s circumstances, tax burden measures the proportion of total personal income that residents pay toward state and local taxes.

And it isn’t uniform across the U.S., either.

To determine the residents with the biggest tax burdens, WalletHub compared the 50 states across the three tax types of state tax burdens — property taxes, individual income taxes and sales and excise taxes — as a share of total personal income in the state.

Illinois is eighth on the list overall.

Tax Burden in Illinois (1=Highest, 25=Avg.):

• 8^th – Overall Tax Burden (10.08%)
• 9^th – Property Tax Burden (4.11%)
• 22^nd – Individual Income Tax Burden (2.44%)
• 24^th – Total Sales & Excise Tax Burden (3.53%)

Overall highest rank goes to New York, with Hawaii second. Maine, Vermont and Minnesota round out the top five.

The five states with the least tax burden overall are Alaska, Delaware, Tennessee, Florida and New Hampshire.

For more fun (or not so fun) facts about 2018’s tax landscape, check out WalletHub’s Tax Day Facts infographic.

SOURCE: WalletHub