Utah has 14th lowest taxes, study says

WalletHub says Utah would be 10th lowest if ranking were adjusted for cost of living.

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Think taxes are too high in Utah? It is worse in 36 other states and the District of Columbia.

Utah has the 14th lowest taxes among the states, according to a study conducted by the personal-finance website WalletHub.

It said Utah taxpayers spent an average of $6,069 in state and local taxes, 13 percent lower than the national average.

Even better, the study says Utah would rank 10th lowest if rankings were adjusted based on the cost of living index.

The study said Utah tied for the lowest taxes for local-government income tax and property tax on automobiles — because it has no such taxes. (The Legislature several years ago eliminated motor-vehicle property taxes in favor of fees.)

It ranked 11th lowest on real-estate taxes at an average of 0.69 percent. It even ranked 19th lowest on average alcohol taxes at 6.67 percent. The study looked at 10 different types of state and local taxes, from telecommunication taxes to sales, fuel and food taxes.

The study said the worst state for a taxpayer to live in is New York, where taxes averaged $9,710, about 40 percent more than average. It said the best state for taxpayers is Wyoming, where the average state and local tax bill is $2,364, or 66 percent lower than average.

Of note, the study also said that Republican red states impose lower taxes than do Democratic blue states. The average rank for red states is 19.9, compared to 31.4 for blue states.