How tax-friendly is your state? Local and state taxes can have a big impact on your take-home pay. http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/taxesbystate2005/index.html PLUS: • Behind the rankings • How the big cities rank • More tax rankings: Income, sales, property NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -- There are countless reasons why you choose to live where you live. The climate, the schools and the job opportunities are just a few. But state and local taxes can make a big difference. The Tax Foundation, a policy research group, estimated the average taxpayer's total state and local tax burden for 2005 in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. That burden reflects what residents pay in state and local income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, luxury taxes and fuel taxes, among others. States below are ranked from least to most tax friendly. (Read more about this table below.) Click on column headings to re-sort » State-Local Tax Burdens, Calendar Year 2005 Rank State State/Local taxes as % of per capita income U.S. average 10.10% 1 Maine 13.00% 2 New York 12.00% 3 Hawaii 11.50% 4 Rhode Island 11.40% 5 Wisconsin 11.40% 6 Vermont 11.10% 7 Ohio 11.00% 8 Nebraska 10.90% 9 Utah 10.90% 10 Minnesota 10.70% 11 Arkansas 10.50% 12 Connecticut 10.50% 13 West Virginia 10.50% 14 New Jersey 10.40% 15 Kansas 10.40% 16 Louisiana 10.40% 17 Maryland 10.30% 18 Indiana 10.30% 19 Kentucky 10.30% 20 California 10.30% 21 Arizona 10.20% 22 Michigan 10.10% 23 Wyoming 10.10% 24 Washington 10.00% 25 Iowa 10.00% 26 Mississippi 10.00% 27 Idaho 10.00% 28 North Carolina 10.00% 29 New Mexico 9.90% 30 Illinois 9.80% 31 Georgia 9.80% 32 Massachusetts 9.80% 33 South Carolina 9.70% 34 Virginia 9.70% 35 Pennsylvania 9.70% 36 Oregon 9.60% 37 Colorado 9.50% 38 Nevada 9.50% 39 Montana 9.50% 40 Oklahoma 9.40% 41 Missouri 9.40% 42 North Dakota 9.40% 43 Texas 9.30% 44 Florida 9.20% 45 South Dakota 8.80% 46 Alabama 8.70% 47 Tennessee 8.30% 48 Delaware 8.00% 49 New Hampshire 7.40% 50 Alaska 6.40% District of Columbia 12.20% Source: Tax Foundation, 2005 More tax info: Big city tax burdens » Tax rankings: Income, sales, property » The state/local tax burden reflects what a state and its local governments collect as a percentage of per capita income. So, for example, with a state/local tax burden of 10.4 percent, the state of New Jersey and its local governments get about a tenth of what its residents make per capita. Of course, if you live in the Garden State your personal tax burden may be higher or lower. Much will depend, as it would in any state, on whether you own your home, where in the state you live, how much you make and the source of your income. Tax-friendly places 2005 Top honors go to Alaska, New Hampshire and Delaware. Most unfriendly? Maine, New York, D.C. April 11, 2005: 1:15 PM EDT By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN/Money senior writer Click table for full list » QUICK VOTE Would you consider moving to a state with a lower tax rate? Yes No View results View Property Tax Records Resource provides real estate tax assessor record information online. Users can... www.knowx.com Property Tax AMR will ensure your fixed asset data is correct so your company can achieve... www.assetmanagementresources.com NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – When you travel from state to state, some differences are readily apparent: the landscape, people's accents, use of the word "dude," you name it. But you can't know what it truly costs to live in a place until you get hit with the whole megillah of taxes. Every year, the Tax Foundation measures the total tax bill for each state, creating a list of the most – and least – tax-friendly states in the country. See the full list here. And see more state rankings based on income tax, sales tax, property tax and tax breaks for retirees. In creating its rankings, the Tax Foundation measures as a percentage of per capita income what residents pay in income, property, sales and other personal taxes levied at the state and local levels. It also factors in the portion of business taxes passed along to state residents through higher prices, lower wages or lower profits. The Tax Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit policy research group that advocates, among other things, tax simplification. The winners are ... This year, Alaska again takes top honors as the most tax-friendly to residents. It has no state sales tax, no income tax and the government annually sends residents a refund because of the excess revenue it collects from companies extracting oil from the state. New Hampshire comes in second. Although it has relatively high property taxes, like Alaska it doesn't impose a sales tax and it doesn't tax wages (although it does tax investment income). Delaware takes third place, primarily for its lack of a sales tax, its low income taxes – the top rate is 5.95 percent – and the relatively light burden imposed on residents resulting from the state's corporate tax. Topping the list of least tax-friendly places is Maine. Its No. 1 ranking results from the great disparity between the fact that it is one of the lowest income states in the country yet has one of the highest rankings in terms of tax collection, said Curtis Dubay, an economist with the Tax Foundation. Property taxes account for about 40 percent of the overall tax revenue Maine collects, and it has relatively high income tax rates – a top rate of 8.5 percent for all income above $16,950. The District of Columbia comes in second, due in part to a high individual income tax – the top rate is 9.3 percent for income above $30,000. New York, meanwhile, maintains its usual high ranking thanks to an average sales tax of about 8 percent when average state and local rates are combined, plus the option to levy a local income tax, which is one of the reasons New York City is among the least tax-friendly cities in the country. In fact, the revenue generated by local taxes levied across New York account for about half of all tax revenue collected in the state, Dubay said. It's not just about the averages Of course, how tax friendly a state is to you depends on several factors. For instance: How you make your money. Two states, Tennessee and New Hampshire, don't tax wage income but tax investment income. So if you're living off your investments, you'll pay for the privilege. Where in a state you live. Big cities tend to have bigger tax bites than many suburban and rural areas in a state. (For a look at the rankings of the tax burden in the largest cities in the country, click here.) Whether you own a home. A state may have modest taxes in many areas but rank high when it comes to property taxes. New Hampshire, for example, is a tax-friendly state overall, but has relatively high property taxes. Also, owning a home in a desirable neighborhood in any state is likely to increase your property tax bill. Whether you're retired. Some states, even high-tax ones like Hawaii and New York, offer retirees income-tax breaks. Whether you smoke or drink. Cigarette and liquor taxes can add up when you're feeding a habit. Ditto if you drive a gas guzzler in a state with high fuel taxes. STATES WITHOUT PERSONAL INCOME TAX Alaska Tennessee* Florida Texas Nevada Washington New Hampshire* Wyoming South Dakota *Tennessee and New Hampshire do tax dividend and interest income. STATE SALES TAX BURDENS HIGHEST RATES NO SALES TAX* Mississippi 7.00% Alaska Tennessee 7.00% Oregon Rhode Island 7.00% Montana Minnesota 6.50% Delaware Washington 6.50% New Hampshire California 6.25% *Localities within a state may impose a sales tax. Source: CCH Inc. STATES OFFERING RETIREES INCOME-TAX BREAKS Arizona Arkansas Colorado Hawaii Illinois Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Michigan Montana New York North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Pennsylvania Utah Source: CCH Inc. LOCAL PROPERTY TAXES (Per capita/year*) 5 BEST STATES 5 WORST STATES Arkansas $191 New Jersey $1,871 Alabama $285 Connecticut $1,733 Kentucky $376 Maine $1,439 New Mexico $380 New York $1,402 Oklahoma $425 Rhode Island $1,368 U.S. average $935 *Based on census data from 2002, the latest currently available. Source: Tax Foundation