State takes hit for property tax burden
In troubling news for small business owners, New Jersey ranked 46th in the country in economic outlook in a new study by the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Notably, the state ranked last for its property tax burden ($54.07 per $1,000 of personal income), its inheritance tax and its status as a non-Right-to-Work state. Its best ranking, ninth, came for its remaining tax burden of $14.22 of per $1,000 of personal income.
The 8th-annual Rich States, Poor States study ranks the states on 15 issues of state policy, including minimum wage, workers’ compensation costs, property tax burden, sales tax burden and highest marginal personal income tax rate.
Utah ranked best, and New York the worst. California’s ranking was 44th, while New Mexico came in at 34th. Arizona moved up two spots in the rankings since last year, but it has always fared well: In the eight years of the study, Arizona has never ranked lower than 12th.
“The big story this year is the bipartisan embrace of state tax cuts,” said Jonathan Williams, co-author of the study, in a statement. “States are increasingly realizing the need to become more competitive through fiscal responsibility and free-market economic reforms. We anticipate 2015 will be a record year for pro-growth tax reform.
