More than a quarter of tax filers in all but one state do not pay any income taxes, according to a recent analysis by The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group. In many states, well over a third of tax filers do not owe income taxes.
One third of New York residents have a zero or negative income tax liability after they take deductions and credits, according to the foundation’s analysis of tax return data for 2010. Twenty-nine percent and 26 percent of tax filers in New Jersey and Connecticut, respectively, did not pay any income tax. The analysis does not include those not required to file income taxes, which would increase the number of Americans that don’t pay any income tax.
The issue of Americans not paying taxes came to the fore recently after remarks made by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney that many saw as critical of the “47 percent” of Americans who do not pay taxes.
According to the foundation’s analysis, southern states have the highest percentage of filers with no tax liability. Mississippi has the highest percentage at 46 percent, followed by Georgia at 43 percent, Alabama at 40 percent and Florida at 39 percent. Texas is ninth on the list at 39 percent.
In all, more than 50 million tax filers had no tax liability in 2010. At the opposite end, just 22 percent of Alaska tax filers owe no income tax.
You can review the percentages and ranks for all states in the tax foundation map below. Click the map to make it larger.
