Filing your taxes may still be a pain, but at least South Carolina taxpayers pay the ninth lowest tax rate in the country, according to a new analysis by WalletHub..
The median South Carolinian household pays an effective total state and local tax rate of 8.8 percent. The tax burden on the median South Carolina household this year comes up to $4,009. That’s in addition to the average $5,700 each taxpayer pays in federal taxes, yearly, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and almost 18 percent less than the national average, according to the analysis by personal finance site WalletHub that uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Its 2015 study similarly found that South Carolina is the fifth best state for low-income earners, when the cost of living is taken into account.
Tax rates in the most expensive states, like New York, Connecticut and Illinois, are up to three times higher than those in the least expensive states like Delaware, Wyoming and Montana. When adjusted for cost of living, Delaware has the lowest tax rate with just over 6 percent – a 44 percent difference from the national average.
Unsurprisingly, New York tops the list with the highest tax rate at 13.4 percent. The report found that taxes are 10 percent higher in blue states than in red states.
Another reason why living in the Palmetto State is good news for taxpayers: it has the third cheapest gas tax per gallon after Alaska and New Jersey. South Carolina also has the sixth lowest real estate tax rate (1.87 percent), and 14th lowest sales and excise taxes.