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According to a study by Joel Slemrod of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business and Jon Bakija of Williams College, "Well-heeled retirees often relocate to warmer climes in search of sunny skies and year-round golfing, but they also move to avoid paying higher taxes...." Many of the wealthy elderly move to avoid high state estate and inheritance taxes, but "sales tax, income tax and property tax rates also have similar and sometimes larger negative effects on the number of federal tax returns filed in a state...."1
At a time when the outmigration rate from Kansas is one of the highest in the nation2, losing our elderly citizens because of burdensome taxes could put in jeopardy one of our state's Congressional seats. The following information is taken from The Taxpayers Network 50 State Comparisons, 2006 Edition. State Tax Burden for Retirees | State | Rank | Total | Income Tax | Property Tax | Sales Tax | | Pennsylvania | 1 | 7,391 | 0 | 6,551 | 840 | | New Jersey | 2 | 6,715 | 87 | 5,788 | 840 | | Wisconsin | 3 | 6,016 | 1,320 | 3,926 | 770 | | Virginia | 4 | 5,822 | 1,057 | 4,065 | 700 | | Maryland | 5 | 5,395 | 1,239 | 3,483 | 1,000 | | New Hampshire | 6 | 5,279 | 0 | 5,279 | 0 | | Maine | 7 | 5,117 | 813 | 3,604 | 700 | | Rhode Island | 8 | 4,967 | 1,156 | 2,831 | 980 | | North Dakota | 9 | 4,669 | 635 | 3,194 | 840 | | Nebraska | 10 | 4,249 | 994 | 2,345 | 910 | | New Mexico | 11 | 4,131 | 897 | 1,946 | 1,288 | | West Virginia | 12 | 4,053 | 1,661 | 1,192 | 1,200 | | Kansas | 13 | 3,980 | 1,114 | 1,506 | 1,360 | | Minnesota | 14 | 3,971 | 1,383 | 1,608 | 980 | | District of Columbia | 15 | 3,960 | 2,119 | 1,036 | 805 | | Missouri | 16 | 3,917 | 589 | 2,263 | 1,065 | | South Dakota | 17 | 3,645 | 0 | 2,565 | 1,080 | | Connecticut | 18 | 3,635 | 234 | 2,561 | 840 | | Iowa | 19 | 3,625 | 461 | 2,324 | 840 | | Massachusetts | 20 | 3,563 | 872 | 1,991 | 700 | | Texas | 21 | 3,487 | 0 | 2,332 | 1,155 | | Washington | 22 | 3,442 | 0 | 2,322 | 1,120 | | Florida | 23 | 3,424 | 160 | 2,284 | 980 | | Oklahoma | 24 | 3,392 | 817 | 900 | 1,675 | | Ohio | 25 | 3,348 | 243 | 2,300 | 805 | | North Carolina | 26 | 3,330 | 455 | 1,845 | 1,030 | | Tennessee | 27 | 3,316 | 0 | 1,666 | 1,650 | | Arkansas | 28 | 3,313 | 668 | 1,320 | 1,325 | | Utah | 29 | 3,296 | 786 | 1,190 | 1,320 | | Montana | 30 | 3,150 | 1,758 | 1,392 | 0 | | Alabama | 31 | 3,071 | 948 | 323 | 1,800 | | Hawaii | 32 | 3,013 | 1,274 | 939 | 800 | | Indiana | 33 | 2,949 | 1,013 | 1,236 | 700 | | Oregon | 34 | 2,937 | 777 | 2,160 | 0 | | Arizona | 35 | 2,922 | 479 | 1,309 | 1,134 | | California | 36 | 2,902 | 148 | 1,660 | 1,085 | | Illinois | 37 | 2,866 | 0 | 1,761 | 1,105 | | Vermont | 38 | 2,860 | 26 | 1,964 | 870 | | Idaho | 39 | 2,823 | 399 | 1,424 | 1,000 | | Louisiana | 40 | 2,505 | 225 | 600 | 1,680 | | Georgia | 41 | 2,434 | 66 | 1,388 | 980 | | Colorado | 42 | 2,397 | 248 | 1,141 | 1,008 | | Nevada | 43 | 2,326 | 0 | 1,346 | 980 | | Wyoming | 44 | 2,207 | 0 | 1,007 | 1,200 | | Mississippi | 45 | 2,185 | 423 | 362 | 1,400 | | Michigan | 46 | 2,152 | 0 | 1,312 | 840 | | New York | 47 | 2,032 | 0 | 912 | 1,120 | | South Carolina | 48 | 1,518 | 0 | 518 | 1,000 | | Kentucky | 49 | 1,114 | 0 | 274 | 840 | | Alaska | 50 | 1,032 | 0 | 1,032 | 0 | | Delaware | 51 | 543 | 0 | 543 | 0 |
1. http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2005/Jun05/r062105
2. http://www.kssmallbiz.com/articles/article_548.asp -- END -- Sharon DuBois is the president of Senior Ease (www.seniorease.com), as well as the editor of KsSmallBiz.com. Comments and responses may be emailed to
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